Antitrust Lawyer Blog

DOJ INVESTIGATING MONSANTO

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:10:23 -0500

On January 14, the DOJ announced that it has opened a formal antitrust investigation of the soybean seed industry.

FTC Approves Agrium's Purchase of CF

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:18:52 -0500

On December 23, 2009, Agrium Inc. agreed to sell a range of assets as part of an agreement with the FTC that will allow Agrium to move forward with its acquisition of competitor CF Industries Holdings, Inc. The proposed consent order settles allegations that the acquisition would have eliminated competition in the market for anhydrous ammonia fertilizer, a product that farmers rely on to grow their crops.

FTC Sues Intel

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:03:03 -0500

On December 16, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") filed an administrative complaint against Intel Corporation ("Intel") alleging that it has engaged in anticompetitive and unfair conduct in order to stifle competition and maintain its monopoly position.

DOJ CLEARS CISCO'S ACQUISITION OF STARENT

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:53:10 -0500

On December 16, 2009, Cisco announced that the DOJ terminated the mandatory waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976, as amended, with respect to Cisco's pending acquisition of Starent Networks.

Watson’s Acquisition of Arrow Requires Settlement

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:05:18 -0500

On December 2, 2009, the FTC announced an order settling charges that Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s acquisition of Robin Hood Holdings Limited, owner of Arrow Pharmaceuticals, would have harmed consumers by eliminating future competition for important generic drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease (cabergoline) and the side effects of chemotherapy (dronabinol).

FTC Allows SCI’s Acquisition of Palm Mortuary With Divestitures

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:30:03 -0500

On November 25, 2009, the FTC announced that it approved SCI's acquisition of Palm Mortuary, Inc. ("Palm") as long as it sold a cemetery and funeral home in Las Vegas.

MICHIGAN REALTORS' GROUP REDUCED COMPETITION BY RESTRICTING ACCESS TO ITS MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:19:09 -0500

On November 2, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released an opinion stating that the Realcomp II (“Realcomp”), a real estate multiple listing service (“MLS”) serving southeast Michigan, took part in anticompetitive practices by restricting some of its members access to its database.

FTC ALLOWS SCHERING-PLOUGH TO ACQUIRE MERCK

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:56:12 -0500

On October 28, 2009, the FTC approved Schering-Plough's $41.1 billion acquisition of Merck, on the condition that certain divestitures were made.

FTC SETTLES WITH PFIZER REGARDING ITS ACQUISITION OF WYETH

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:31:40 -0500

On October 14, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) settled with Pfizer Inc. regarding its proposed $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth.

ICE PACKAGING COMPANY AND ITS EXECUTIVES PLEAD GUILTY TO CUSTOMER ALLOCATION CONSPIRACY

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:16:53 -0500

On October 13, 2009, Arctic Glacier International (“AGI”) and three of its former executives, Frank Larson (former senior VP of operations), Keith Corbin (former VP of sales), and Gary Cooley (former VP of sales and marketing), pled guilty for their role in a conspiracy to allocate customers of packaged-ice in the Detroit metropolitan area and southeastern Michigan. The company agreed to pay a criminal fine of $9 million.

DOJ REQUIRES DIVESTITURES IN AT&T’S ACQUISITION OF CENTENNIAL

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:19:09 -0500

On October 13, 2009, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) settled with AT&T Inc. (“AT&T”) regarding its $944 million acquisition of Centennial Communications Corp. (“Centennial”).

FTC SETTLES REGARDING CARILION’S 2008 ACQUISITION OF TWO OUTPATIENT CLINICS IN VIRGINIA

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:14:15 -0500

On October 7, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) settled its litigation regarding Carilion Clinic's (“Carilion”) acquisition of two outpatient clinics.

DOJ WILL NOT CHALLENGE LTL FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION COMPANIES’ JOINT VENTURE

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:51:11 -0500

On September 8, 2009, the Department of Justice announced that it would not challenge the formation of a Reliance Network, a joint venture between seven regional less-than-truckload (“LTL”) freight transportation companies, based on the representations made by the applicants.

FTC SETTLES WITH K+S REGARDING ITS ACQUISITION OF MORTON INTERNATIONAL

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:15:39 -0500

On September 25, 2009, the FTC settled with K+S Aktiengesellschaft (“K+S”) regarding its $1.68 billion proposed acquisition of Morton International, Inc. (“Morton”).

The proposed merger would have combined K+S’s subsidiary, International Salt Company LLC (“ISCO”) with Morton. According to the FTC, the combined company would have enjoyed a 70% market share of the bulk de-icing salt market in Maine and Connecticut. There is no practical substitute for de-icing salt and it is unlikely that other salt providers would enter the markets. The transaction could have substantially increased the prices of de-icing salt.

U.S. ANTITRUST AGENCIES TO EXPLORE CHANGES TO HORIZONTAL MERGER GUIDELINES

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:22:27 -0500

On September 22, the Department of Justice ("DOJ") and the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") announced that they will solicit public comment and hold joint public workshops to explore the possibility of updating the Horizontal Merger Guidelines that are used by both agencies to evaluate the potential competitive effects of mergers and acquisitions.