ANTITRUST ALERT
ANTITRUST ALERT
A Global Resource for Compliance Officers & Legal Advisors
ANTITRUST ALERT
A Global Resource for Compliance Officers & Legal Advisors

Antitrust M&A Snapshot | Q4 2020

By and on Feb 10, 2021
Posted In , , , , ,

In the United States, despite initial obstacles because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 rounded out to be the busiest year for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) enforcement in nearly two decades. In the fourth quarter, US agencies challenged five transactions. November 2020 saw the most premerger filings in any month since 2001. Mergers and filings in the United States are predicted to remain at high levels into the new year in light of the current economic climate. The antitrust agencies have continued to maintain that their evaluation and investigation of anticompetitive harm will remain rigorous despite the uncertain times.

In Europe, the European Commission (EC) and the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had a busy last quarter of 2020. The EC completed several in-depth investigations, including the Fiat Chrysler/Peugeot merger. The EC approved this transaction with behavioural remedies. With respect to policy and legislative developments, the EC published the much-anticipated draft of the Digital Markets Act, which is intended to regulate the market behaviour of large online platforms which act as “gatekeepers” in digital markets. Given the end of the transition period for the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, the CMA published a guidance paper explaining how it will conduct its work following Brexit.

Access the full issue.



Enforcement Agencies Announce Moratorium on Early Termination Program for Merger Reviews

By , and on Feb 9, 2021
Posted In , ,

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a joint statement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) on February 4, 2021, signaling comprehensive changes to the merger review process. In a significant development, the agencies declared a moratorium on the early termination program for merger reviews. This policy shift signals a potential sea change in antitrust enforcement under the Biden administration.

The Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Premerger Notification program imposes an initial 30-day waiting period, prior to merger consummation, during which the enforcement agencies have an opportunity to evaluate the likely effects of the proposed merger and decide whether to investigate further by issuing a Second Request or ending the HSR review by letting the initial 30-day waiting period expire.

A third potential outcome of the initial 30-day waiting period is early termination. The early termination program under the HSR Act was originally established as an exception to an HSR review if the relevant parties demonstrated a “special business reason.” This policy was reversed after Heublein v. FTC (1982) and since that time early termination of the initial 30-day waiting period has become commonplace if the merger does not merit further review (in 2019 early termination was requested in 74.2% of transactions and granted in 73.5% of those instances). Further review would be merited, if the enforcement agencies determined the transaction posed a risk of a substantial lessening of competition under the Clayton Act.

Pursuant to the moratorium on early terminations, merging parties must now refrain from consummating any proposed transaction for the full initial 30-day waiting period—early termination is not a potential outcome.

The joint statement regarding the early termination moratorium provided the following justifications:

  • The early termination review was precipitated because of the transition to a new presidential administration as well as an “unprecedented volume” of HSR filings;
  • The above factors warrant the use of the full 30-day window to allow the agencies to do “right by competition and consumers;”
  • The suspension of the early termination program “will be brief.”

Past pauses in early terminations coincided with extraordinary circumstances such as the move to an e-filing system at the Premerger Notification Office (PNO) at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic (paused from March 13, 2020, until March 30, 2020) or during periods of government shutdown. However, this current pause appears likely to endure longer than these past instances, given that this pause is driven by the confluence of a number of factors, beyond what was indicated in the joint statement, such as:

  • A longstanding agency funding drought resulting in understaffing
  • Transitioning to a new presidential administration
  • A desire to engage in more expansive investigations under the new Biden administration
  • A large influx in HSR filings in recent months (on pace for a 60% increase in 2021)

From the agencies’ point of view, these changes are necessary to meet their mandate of preventing unfair competition and anticompetitive practices. With agency resources stretched thin due to budget constraints, in addition to an increased [...]

Continue Reading



Annual European Competition Review 2020

By , , , and on Feb 2, 2021
Posted In , , , ,

McDermott’s Annual European Competition Review summarizes significant developments in the field of European competition law. 2020 saw several important legislative and policy developments, including EC guidance on foreign direct investment, the promulgation of a temporary framework for antitrust cooperation in the context of COVID-19 and the issuance of a rare competition law comfort letter thereunder. Furthermore, in addition to a number of interesting EC decisions, key judgments were handed down by the EU Courts, including in relation to the conditions for assessing “by object” infringements, the notion of “gun jumping” and jurisdiction under the EU merger regulation and tax planning measures under EU State aid rules. All these new rules and judicial decisions may be relevant for your company and your day-to-day practice.

In our super-connected age, because we are inundated with information from numerous sources it can be difficult to select what is really relevant to one’s business. The purpose of this review is therefore to help general counsel and their teams to be aware of, and to conduct their business in line with, essential EU competition law developments.

This review was prepared by McDermott’s European Competition Team in Brussels. Throughout 2020 they have monitored legal developments and drafted the summary reports.

Click here to read the full Review.



Notification Threshold under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Decreased to $92 Million

By and on Feb 2, 2021
Posted In , ,

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday released decreased thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR). The thresholds are indexed to changes in the gross national product (GNP). They normally increase year over year but have decreased this year because of the economic impacts of COVID-19. We last saw a decrease in connection with the 2008 recession.

Notification Threshold Adjustments

The FTC announced revised thresholds for the HSR pre-merger notifications on February 1, 2021. These decreased thresholds were published in the Federal Register on February 2, 2021, and will become effective on March 4, 2021. These new thresholds apply to any transaction that closes on or after the effective date:

  • The base filing threshold, which frequently determines whether a transaction requires the filing of an HSR notification, will decrease to $92 million.
  • The alternative statutory size-of-transaction test, which captures all transactions valued above a certain size (even if the “size-of-person” threshold is not met), will be adjusted to $368 million.
  • The statutory size-of-person thresholds will decrease slightly to $18.4 million and $184 million.

The adjustments will affect parties contemplating HSR notifications in various ways. Transactions that do not meet the current “size-of-transaction” threshold, but will meet the revised $92 million threshold, will only need to be filed if they will close after the new thresholds take effect.

The adjustments may affect HSR filing fees for certain transactions. Under the rules, the acquiring person must pay a filing fee, although the parties may allocate that fee amongst themselves. Filing fees for HSR-reportable transactions will remain unchanged; however, the size of transactions subject to the filing fee tiers will shift downward as a result of the GNP-indexing adjustments:

Filing Fee Size of Transaction $45,000 $92 million, but less than $184 million $125,000 $184 million, but less than $919.9 million $280,000 $919.9 million or more.


European Commissions Continues to Amend COVID-19 Temporary State Aid Framework

By and on Jan 29, 2021
Posted In ,

On January 28 2021, the European Commission (Commission) amended its COVID-19 Temporary State aid Framework (Temporary Framework) for the fifth time. The Commission adopted the Temporary Framework at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis (March 19 2020) to support the economy and help Member States set up various aid measures. Since the adoption of the Temporary Framework, the Commission has approved hundreds of national COVID-19 support measures.

Given that the COVID-19 crisis continues to affect the European economy, the European Commission adopted a fifth Amendment to the Temporary Framework, which includes the following changes:

  • Extension of the Temporary Framework until December 31 2021;
  • Higher aid ceilings regarding limited amounts of aid and support for uncovered fixed costs;
  • Clarifications and amendments to several provisions.
  • The continued temporary removal of all countries from the “marketable risk” country list under the STEC (Short Term Export Credit) insurance Communication.

Our latest alert summarizes the key takeaways and immediate impact of this amendment.

*Author, Partner Hendrik Viaene, recently joined McDermott from Deloitte Legal, where he led the global Centre of Expertise in Competition and Regulatory Law. His practice focuses on EU competition and regulatory law, and he demonstrates in particular an in-depth technical skill and encyclopaedic knowledge of State Aid issues.

A seasoned and skilled litigator, he has successfully represented numerous clients before the European Court of Justice and Belgian courts. His practice additionally covers cartels, licensing agreements, merger control, abuse of dominance, and distribution agreements. His wide-ranging expertise extends over a number of sectors, including energy, chemicals and paints, automotive, financial data, recycling and waste management, telecoms, construction, renewables, media, private equity and the financial industry.

(more…)



Subscribe

BLOG EDITORS

Gregory E. Heltzer

Andrea Hamilton

Christian Krohs

Daniel Powers

David Henry

STAY CONNECTED

Subscribe

TOPICS

ARCHIVES