Tag: Competition

The FTC authorized its staff to file a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the proposed acquisition of Doctors Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. On July 30, 1998, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted the Commission's motion for the injunction. Tenet filed a notice of appeal in the Eighth Circuit on August 10, 1998. An administrative complaint was issued August 20, 1998 charging that the proposed merger of the only two general hospitals in Poplar Bluff would not only eliminate price, cost and quality competition but would also put consumers at risk of paying more for health care. In December 1999, the Commission dismissed the administrative complaint after the Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's decision and denied Commission’s petition for a rehearing en banc.

A final order requires the divestiture of large titanium stainless steel and large nickel-based superalloy production assets (structural cast metals used in the manufacture of aerospace components) to settle antitrust concerns stemming from its acquisition of Wyrnan-Gordon Company. The order requires Precision Castparts to divest Wyman-Gordon's titanium foundry in Albany, Oregon and Wyman- Gordon's Large Cast Parts foundry in Groton, Connecticut.

A final order settled charges stemming from Kroger Company's acquisition of The John C. Groub Company. The order requires the divestiture of three supermarkets in Columbus and Madison, Indiana to Roundy's, Inc., one of the largest food wholesalers in the United States.

The consent order ensures that the merged firm of Provident and UNUM Corporation will continue to participate in industry-wide solicitations for data to make actuarial predictions on probable future claims by applicants who hold policies with providers of individual disability insurance. The order requires Provident-to provide data to the Society of Actuaries and/or the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for studies and reports

A consent order prohibits fourteen Bakersfield, California pool construction contractors from entering into any agreement or conspiracy to substantially raise and set swimming pool construction prices. The order also prohibits the contractors from refusing to deal with owner-builders or home construction contractors or developers.

Final order settles charges that Sorin Biomedica S.p.A.'s acquisition of COBE Cardiovascular, Inc. would eliminate competition in the United states market for research, development, manufacture and sale of heart-lung machines. The order permits the acquisition and requires the divestiture of COBE's heart-lung machine business to Baxter Healthcare Corporation

Rohm & Haas settled charges that its acquisition of Morton International, Inc. would lessen competition in North American for the production and sale of water-based floor care polymers used in the formulation of floor care products such as polishes. The consent order requires the divestiture of Morton's worldwide water-based floor care polymers business to GenCorp, Inc.

Physicians practicing in the North and South Lake Tahoe areas settled charges that they conspired to fix the prices and terms for professional services. The consent order prohibits the IPA from engaging in collective negotiations to fix prices; refusing to deal with third party payers; and coercing payers into accepting PA fee schedules and minimum reimbursement rates.

Consent order, resolving antitrust concerns relating to Zeneca's merger with Astra AB requires the divestiture of all assets relating to levobupivacaine, a long-acting local anesthetic. The assets were sold to Chiroscience Group plc, the developer of levobupivacaine.

Consent order requires Consumer Energy, a CMS subsidiary, to "loan" natural gas from its own system to shippers on third-party pipelines if the interconnection capacity with competing pipelines falls below historical levels settling charges that its acquisition of two natural gas pipelines, Panhandle Eastern Pipeline and Trunkline Pipeline, from Duke Energy Company, could reduce competition and increase consumer prices for natural gas and electricity in 54 counties in Michigan.

Medtronic agreed to divest Avecor Cardiovascular, Inc.'s non-occlusive arterial pump assets to settle antitrust concerns that the acquisition would lessen competition for the research, development, manufacture and sale of the pumps in the United States. The order requires Medtronic to provide assistance to the buyer of the Avecor Pump assets to enable the buyer to obtain FDA approval to manufacture and market the Avecor pumps an reservoirs.

A Colorado physicians' organization settled charges alleging that the Mesa County IPA conspired with its members to increase prices for physician services and thereby prevented third party payers such as preferred provider organizations, health maintenance organizations, and employer health care purchasing cooperatives from offering alternative health insurance programs to consumers in Mesa County.