Antitrust Lawyer Blog
On February 3, 2017, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released a study entitled “The FTC’s Merger Remedies 2006-2012” (“Remedy Study”). The Remedy Study, a report of the FTC’s Bureaus of Competition and Economics, examines 89 merger orders affecting 400 markets, with 79 divestitures to 121 buyers, and evaluates 50 of those orders using a case study method. To conduct the Remedy Study, the FTC interviewed nearly 200 businesses in a wide range of industries.
The Remedy Study confirms that the FTC’s practices related to designing, drafting and implementing its merger remedies are generally effective. At the same time, the Remedy Study identifies a number of shortcomings that the FTC needs to address to improve the remedy process.
Some of the key findings and adjustments include: