Competition Matters

The Premerger Notification Office is often asked to give guidance on how to determine the value of a proposed merger or acquisition in light of the size of transaction test. The size of transaction test excludes transactions from the reporting requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act if they are valued below the annually adjusted dollar threshold. The current size of transaction threshold is $78.2 million.

Last week, Fortiline settled charges that it invited a competing seller of ductile iron pipe (DIP) to fix prices. This is the first case in which the FTC has challenged an invitation to collude by a firm that is in both a horizontal relationship (i.e., direct competitor) and a vertical relationship (i.e., manufacturer-distributor) with the invitee.

I am happy to announce that Chuck Loughlin will replace Tara Reinhart as Chief Trial Counsel for the Bureau when Tara leaves the Commission later this week.  Chuck joined the Bureau in September 2015, as the Deputy Chief Trial Counsel of the litigation group, bringing over 20 years of experience in antitrust litigation, first at Howrey LLP and then at Baker Botts, where he was a partner in the antitrust group.

As we head into the dog days of summer, I am delighted to share some recent management changes in the Bureau.

Looking for ways to celebrate the summer solstice? Tune in to the FTC's workshop on competition and consumer protection issues in solar energy. Tomorrow, on June 21, scientists, academics, regulators, and other industry experts will come together for a series of presentations and roundtables to discuss:

The PNO handles Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification Filings for well over a thousand transactions each year. Each transaction requires the acquiring person to pay an HSR filing fee, which must be paid within two days of filing an HSR Form in order for the HSR waiting period to begin. If payment isn’t received on time, the PNO will "bounce" the filing as incomplete and delay the start of the waiting period.

The FTC has recently made some changes that will make it easier to get your HSR filing fee to the agency.  This blog provides an overview of what’s new.

Now available on the FTC website: the Bureau of Competition’s Health Care Division has posted updated versions of our three overviews of FTC enforcement actions and policy work in the health care sector undertaken across the Bureau. Together, these documents contain hundreds of pages of detailed summaries of four decades of FTC efforts to promote competition in healthcare markets – which make them invaluable resources for health care antitrust practitioners, market participants, and other stakeholders.

Look up and you just might see one: solar panels are on top of more homes and businesses than ever before. Around the country, rooftop solar is an increasingly important source of electricity. For many customers with solar panels, solar power provides most of their electricity; many even sell power back to the power company.

Once a year, the ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting presents the perfect occasion to take stock of the Bureau’s work. This has been an especially busy year for the Bureau of Competition, requiring extraordinary effort from our attorneys and support staff to keep up with the unprecedented litigation workload. As of today, we have multiple merger challenges in various stages of active litigation, as well as three federal court cases involving reverse patent settlements or sham litigation.