ANTITRUST ALERT
ANTITRUST ALERT
A Global Resource for Compliance Officers & Legal Advisors
ANTITRUST ALERT
A Global Resource for Compliance Officers & Legal Advisors
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DOJ Announces Procedural Reforms Seeking to Resolve Merger Investigations within 6 Months of Filing

by , and | Sep 25, 2018 | , ,

Today, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim announced a series of reforms with the express goal to resolve most merger investigations within six months of filing. The reforms seek to place the burden of faster reviews not only on the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), but also on the merging parties.

The DOJ will require fewer custodians, take fewer depositions, and commit to shorter time-periods in exchange for merging parties providing detailed information to the DOJ early in the investigation in some cases before a Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) filing is made. AAG Delrahim believes that merging parties need to avoid “hid[ing] the eight ball” and work with the DOJ in good faith to remedy transactions that raise competitive concerns.

By announcing these reforms, the DOJ acknowledges that merger reviews are taking longer in recent years. AAG Delrahim cited a recent report noting that the length of merger reviews has increased 65 percent since 2013 and that the average length of a significant merger review is now roughly 11 months. AAG Delrahim believes an assortment of factors contribute to the increasing length of reviews including larger quantities of documents produced during a Second Request, increasing numbers of transactions with international implications, and the DOJ’s insistence on an upfront buyer for most consent orders. (more…)



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THE LATEST: FTC Announces New Model Timing Agreement for Merger Investigations

by | Aug 9, 2018 | ,

WHAT HAPPENED:
  • On August 7, the FTC published a new Model Timing Agreement. Timing agreements are agreements between FTC staff and merging parties that outline the FTC’s expected timing for various events in order for it to conduct an orderly investigation during a Second Request.
  • The FTC expects the Model Timing Agreement to be used as drafted (or in a similar form) for all transactions that receive a Second Request. The FTC has used timing agreements frequently in the past, as has the DOJ, but the FTC has now published a model, which means this is likely to become the standard practice moving forward.
  • Parties are not required to enter into a timing agreement. However, in practicality, if parties do not agree to the timing agreement, the agency will proceed as if it must be in court to block the deal within 30 days of compliance. Therefore, it will prepare for litigation and will not consider settlement options or engage with the parties on the issues in the same way it would if the agency had more time under a timing agreement.
  • Some highlights of the new Model Timing Agreement are provided below (Note: All days listed refer to calendar days):
    • Parties must provide 30 days’ notice before certifying substantial compliance, and such notice cannot be provided until at least 10 days after signing the timing agreement.
    • Parties cannot close a proposed transaction until a specified time period after substantial compliance with the Second Request. The model indicates this will be 60 days in less complex matters or 90 days in more complex matters, but could be longer than 90 days in “matters involving particularly complicated industries.”
    • Parties must provide 30 days’ notice before consummating the proposed transaction and cannot provide notice more than 40 days before the date on which they have a good faith basis to believe they will have cleared other closing conditions and will be able to complete the transaction, absent an FTC action to block the transaction.
    • The agreement includes a stipulated Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) which will be entered in the event of a challenge. The TRO prevents the parties from consummating the transaction until after five days following a ruling on a motion for preliminary injunction.
    • The timing agreement contains other timing-related provisions such as for document productions and investigational hearings as part of the FTC’s investigation.
WHAT THIS MEANS:
  • Though the Model Timing Agreement does not affect the statutory expiration of the HSR waiting period, it commits the parties not to consummate the transaction for a much longer period and, therefore, effectively extends the waiting period far longer than the 30 days specified under the HSR Act.
  • The 40-day notice required before the closing date means that if there is another condition in the way of closing, such as an ongoing investigation before the European Commission or in China, the parties cannot provide their notice of the anticipated closing date to the FTC. The FTC will [...]

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THE LATEST: Collateral Risk in Merger Reviews

by and | Jul 30, 2018 | ,

WHAT HAPPENED
  • The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently investigating whether advertising sales teams for competing television station owners engaged in anticompetitive conduct regarding communications on performance levels. Per the Journal’s reporting:
  • DOJ is investigating whether the purported communications led to higher rates for television commercials.
  • DOJ’s industry-wide investigation developed from its review of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s (Sinclair) proposed acquisition of Tribune Media (Tribune).
  • As part of the DOJ’s merger review, Sinclair and Tribune received a “Second Request.” Responding to a Second Request typically involves the production of a wide range of company documents regarding competition in the industry under investigation.
  • Many times in the past, merging parties’ Second Request responses have led to separate anticompetitive conduct cases. A few notable examples are provided below:
  • In April 2018, DOJ brought a civil complaint alleging that three rail equipment companies had no-poaching agreements that depressed salaries and competition for their employees. The agreements were discovered during the review of an acquisition involving two of the three companies.
  • In 2003, DOJ filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the acquisition of Morgan Adhesives Company by UPM-Kymmene and, at the same time, opened a criminal investigation into price-fixing conduct in the labelstock industry.

(more…)



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The LATEST: FTC “Second Requests” to be Narrower in Scope under Ohlhausen’s Leadership

by , and | Feb 17, 2017 | ,

Transactions that meet the Hart-Scott-Rodino thresholds for notification must be reported to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Department of Justice. Where a notified transaction raises competition concerns, the reviewing agency may decide to launch an in-depth investigation and request additional information from the merging parties, known as a “Second Request,” which can take several months and cost companies millions of dollars to fully respond. Under FTC Acting Chairwoman Maureen Ohlhausen’s leadership, however, the burden of a Second Request may decrease, as she intends to narrow their scope.

WHAT HAPPENED:
  • Acting Chairwoman Ohlhausen has signaled that Second Requests will be more limited under her leadership, based on comments made on February 15, 2017 at a Washington conference.
  • The standard for initiating a Second Request will not change. However, once initiated, Second Requests will be narrower in scope, in terms of markets assessed and data requested from companies.
WHAT THIS MEANS:
  • The standard used by the FTC to initiate such investigations will not change; thus, complex transactions raising competition concerns will likely still face a Second Request.
  • However, the time and cost associated with complying with a Second Request may be reduced, which will be good news for companies who may face a shorter review at a lower cost.
  • This business-friendly approach is consistent with Commissioner Ohlhausen’s guiding principles of “regulatory humility, […] the power of competitive markets, and a devotion to empiricism” and her objective to “minimiz[e] the burdens on legitimate businesses”. As such, it may be one of further changes to come in FTC enforcement.

The FTC’s Path Ahead.

Statement of Acting FTC Chairman Ohlhausen on Appointment by President Trump.



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Has Antitrust Enforcement Been ‘Reinvigorated’ Under Obama?

by and | Oct 27, 2015 | , ,

In the 2008 presidential election campaign, then-candidate Barack Obama promised to “reinvigorate” antitrust enforcement. Over the last few years, several observers have concluded that the Obama administration’s antitrust record is not substantially different from that of his predecessor. Conventional wisdom suggests that antitrust enforcement is non-partisan. Some key statistics bear out this conclusion, but a comparative review of the data in Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Annual Reports published jointly by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), including the recently issued fiscal year 2014 report, reveals some significant differences in antitrust enforcement during the Obama administration.

Analyzing the first six years of each administration reveals some superficial differences, but also significant continuity. Between 2001 and 2006, the agencies received a total of 9080 HSR filings; in 2009–2014 they received only 7530 filings. The total number of filings reviewed by the agencies also declined in absolute terms in the Obama years (Bush: 1537; Obama: 1251). Yet the percentage of filings reviewed has been remarkably consistent at slightly less than 17 percent of filings received in each period (Bush: 16.9 percent; Obama: 16.6 percent). The same consistency applies to Second Requests issued. The agencies actually issued a higher number of Second Requests in the first six years of the Bush administration compared to the same period in the Obama administration (Bush: 284; Obama 275). Given the lower number of filings in 2009–2014, the number of Second Requests as a percentage of all filings reviewed was higher in the Obama years, but only slightly (Bush: 3.1 percent; Obama: 3.7 percent).

If the analysis stopped there, we might conclude that antitrust review and enforcement has changed little during the Obama years. But data for the individual agencies reveals a different picture. In the Bush years, the FTC issued 142 Second Requests compared to 134 during the Obama years. Once again, given the different volume of transactions, this difference in absolute numbers results in no meaningful change in the Second Requests issued as a percentage of the transactions reviewed (Bush: 15.3 percent; Obama: 15.4 percent). For the DOJ, however, the numbers reveal a different story. Although the DOJ issued an almost equal number of second requests in each administration (Bush: 142; Obama: 141), as a percentage of all transactions reviewed by the DOJ, this steady rate results in a significant increase in the total as a percentage of the transactions reviewed; 23.4 percent during the Bush administration, compared to 37.1 during the Obama administration.

The number of enforcement actions pursued by each agency also reveals significant differences. The FTC launched nine more actions under Obama than it did under Bush (Bush: 113; Obama: 124). These totals translate to a modest two percent increase when measured as a percentage of the transactions reviewed by the agency (Bush: 12.1 percent; Obama: 14.2 percent). At the DOJ, the total number of enforcement actions also increased, from 86 under Bush to 101 under Obama. Given the different number of transactions reviewed, however, this change almost doubled [...]

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ABA Panel Tackles Meeting M&A Client Expectations

by | Jun 13, 2014 |

Recently the American Bar Association Section of International Law in partnership with the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA) held a conference entitled “Successful Transactions – What In-House Counsel Expect from their M&A and Antitrust Attorneys.”  The conference provided parallel tracks in M&A and Antitrust with the focus of providing attendees a better  understanding of issues in-house counsel face during an M&A transaction.

The opening session focused on the importance of project management.  The panel consisted of outside counsel, in-house counsel and a consultant.  The session started with the notion that clients find that outside counsel generally fall short on project management during M&A transactions.  According to the panel, the key to project management is to manage and set realistic client expectations at the outset of any transaction.  To provide clients with accurate expectations, outside counsel recommend having a kick-off meeting with the client to discuss the transaction’s structure, the applicable jurisdictions, the regulatory environments and the competitive nature of the industry, and to assess the client’s resources and risk tolerance.  The antitrust attorneys also stressed the importance of involving antitrust counsel at the beginning of a transaction.  Involving antitrust attorneys early can help most significantly with timing and expense.  The most significant example of this is a second request.  If antitrust counsel knows the facts of the transaction early he or she can assess the likelihood of the client receiving a second request which can affect cost, timing and ultimately a client’s willingness to continue pursuing the transaction.

To continue to manage the transaction the panel recommended that the lead M&A and antitrust counsel facilitate the following logistical tasks – coordinate efforts to gather and distribute information, set priorities and track work streams, identify and report back to the client on key issues and reevaluate priorities and strategy with clients as the matter develops.

In conclusion, the panel advised attendees that the best way to avoid project management failure is to be organized and communicate with the client and co-counsel.  Under that framework the panel recommended that attorneys clearly define the scope of work, establish clear priorities, track the timeline and budget of the transaction, participate in transparent project planning, provide clear and timely reports, and be prepared for forward- looking legal issues like gun-jumping and other transaction-related issues.



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FTC and DOJ Release FY 2013 HSR Annual Report

by | May 27, 2014 | ,

On May 21, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) released the Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report covering Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 (October 1, 2012 – September 30, 2013).  The report describes key merger enforcement actions over the past year and provides interesting data regarding the agencies’ antitrust enforcement activity.

Specifically, the report indicates that in FY 2013, 1,326 transactions were reported under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act, representing an approximate 7 percent decline in reported transactions from FY 2012.  The FTC was granted clearance to investigate 145 of these transactions, while the DOJ was granted clearance to investigate 72 transactions.  Of the 145 transactions the FTC investigated in FY 2013, it only issued 25 second requests.  In other words, the FTC only issued second requests in 17.2 percent of its investigations in FY 2013.  The DOJ’s Antitrust Division, on the other hand, issued second requests in 22 of the 72 transactions it was granted clearance to investigate (i.e., 30.6 percent of its investigations).

However, of the FTC’s 25 second requests in FY 2013, it brought 23 merger enforcement actions.  That is, the FTC brought enforcement actions in more than 90 percent of the transactions for which it issued a second request in FY 2013.  The DOJ’s Antitrust Division brought only 15 merger enforcement actions in FY 2013, or just under 70 percent of the transactions for which it issued a second request (15 out of 22).

This information can be a helpful tool to assist clients in evaluating their chances before the merger enforcement agencies at various stages of the HSR notification process.  While the FTC and DOJ together only investigated 217 transactions in FY 2013, most of those investigations were brought by the FTC.  Furthermore, the agencies’ decisions to issue second requests made it increasingly likely that they would bring enforcement actions to block or unwind the transactions, particularly with respect to the FTC.



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