Competition Matters

In response to increased interest in levels of M&A activity, the Bureau of Competition’s Premerger Notification Office (PNO) is responding in real-time by posting monthly figures for Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act filings.  Starting today, the PNO is posting monthly totals for the most recent six-month period, and will update the numbers on a six-month rolling basis on the PNO homepage.  While the Commission publicly reports monthly HSR transaction numbers in its

I am pleased to announce the appointment of a new manager in the Bureau of Competition: Patty McDermott has joined the Anticompetitive Practices Division as Deputy Assistant Director. Patty has served in the FTC’s Health Care Division since 2014, and received the Commission’s Louis D. Brandeis Award in 2018 for leading the trial team in FTC v. AbbVie. Before joining the FTC, Patty worked in private practice and clerked for the Honorable Cameron McGowan Currie in the U.S.

The PNO handles Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notification filings for thousands of transactions each year.  Filing fees are also required as part of the HSR premerger notification process.  Failure to pay the required fee on time will delay the HSR waiting period, but careful planning for the fee submission can help avoid most fee-related problems.  The reminders and tips in this blog will help ensure that the PNO receives and processes the HSR fee as promptly as possible.

I want to thank Kevin Hahm for his work in the Bureau of Competition and, most importantly, for his contribution to our competition enforcement. Kevin, most recently, the Assistant Director for the Mergers IV Division, has been an integral part of the reinvigoration of the hospital merger enforcement efforts within the Bureau. Before becoming Assistant Director, Kevin had served as Deputy Assistant Director of the Mergers IV Division.

On Friday, March 13, as part of the Bureau’s response to the COVID-19 coronavirus situation, and in partnership with the Antitrust Division of DOJ, we announced that the Bureau’s Premerger Notification Office would adopt a

When Congress passed the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, it created minimum dollar thresholds to limit the burden of premerger reporting. In 2000, it amended the HSR statute to require the annual adjustment of these thresholds based on the change in gross national product. As a result, reportability under the Act changes from year to year as the statutory thresholds adjust. The PNO fields many questions about the upcoming adjustments to the HSR thresholds from parties whose transactions may take place around the time of the revisions.

More and more, merging parties argue that their merger does not raise competition concerns because they are not each other’s closest competitors. Parties have advanced this argument even in markets where there will be only two or three remaining firms post-transaction, including the merged firm. This argument is not new, and it often misunderstands merger analysis.

Parties regularly present their arguments and defenses of conduct and mergers to the Front Office of the Bureau if staff has recommended a challenge. A surprising number of these presentations begin with a recap of “how we got here” that includes various complaints about the investigating staff. Common complaints have included: the investigation is taking too long; staff didn’t present their concerns early enough in the investigation; and market definitions or areas of concern have evolved during the investigation. To be blunt, complaining about the staff is not a good defense.

The Bureau of Competition is pleased to announce the conversion of the Technology Task Force into a permanent division in the Bureau of Competition. Effective October 1, 2019, it has become the Technology Enforcement Division.