Tag: Merger

The Commission approved an administrative complaint, alleging that a combined Jostens/American Achievement Corp. ("AAC") would control an unduly high percentage of the high school and college rings markets, making it a dominant firm with only one smaller meaningful competitor in both markets.  The Commission charged that the proposed combination of Jostens and AAC would likely have been anticompetitive and led to higher prices and reduced service for both high school and college students who buy class rings.  The FTC also voted to seek a preliminary injunction in federal court to stop Jostens from proceeding with the proposed acquisition of its close rival, AAC.  On April 17, 2014, the parties abandoned their plans to merge.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. agreed to sell assets to GE Healthcare to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its proposed $13.6 billion acquisition of Life Technologies Corporation (Life) would likely substantially lessen competition.The FTC complaint alleged that the deal, as it was originally proposed, would have eliminated close competition between Thermo Fisher and Life and substantially increased concentration in the markets for short/small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) reagents, cell culture media, and cell culture sera, enabling the combined firm to raise prices and reduce quality for consumers. The proposed order settling the FTC’s charges requires Thermo Fisher to divest its gene modulation business Dharmacon, which contains the siRNA reagents business, as well as its cell culture media and sera business including the HyClone brand to GE Healthcare, along with all intellectual property and know-how necessary to operate each of the divested businesses.

Media research company Nielsen Holdings N.V. settled charges that its acquisition of Arbitron Inc. may substantially lessen competition for national syndicated cross-platform audience measurement services.  Nielsen and Arbitron are the best-positioned firms to develop (or partner with others to develop) a national syndicated cross-platform audience measurement service because of their existing audience measurement panels and proven audience measurement technology assets. To settle the charges, the Commission required the divestiture of assets related to Arbitron’s cross-platform audience measurement business, including data from its representative panel, to a Commission-approved buyer.

Pharmaceutical companies Endo Health Sciences Inc. (Endo) and Boca Life Science Holdings, LLC and Boca Pharmacal, LLC (Boca) agreed to a settlement resolving FTC charges that Endo’s acquisition of Boca would be anticompetitive. Under the settlement, the companies will relinquish their rights to market and distribute four generic multivitamin fluoride drops for children, and will sell three other generic drugs in development.The proposed settlement preserves competition in the pharmaceutical markets for four prescription generic multivitamin drop products given to children in the United States who do not have access to fluoridated water.  In addition, the FTC’s settlement preserves future competition for three generic drugs where the proposed acquisition would eliminate one likely future entrant from a very limited pool of future entrants.

According to the complaint, the proposed merger of Albertson’s and United is likely to reduce competition in local grocery markets within Amarillo and Wichita Falls, which would harm consumers through higher prices, lower quality and reduced service levels. To preserve competition in these markets, Albertson’s will sell its lone stores in Amarillo and Wichita Falls, Texas, to MAL Enterprises, Inc., which operates under the Lawrence Brothers IGA, Cash Saver and Save-A-Lot supermarket banners.