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Notification Threshold Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Increased to $101 Million

On January 21, 2022, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced increased thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR). The thresholds are indexed to changes in the gross national product (GNP).

NOTIFICATION THRESHOLD ADJUSTMENTS

These increased thresholds are scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on January 24, 2022, which would make them become effective on February 23, 2022. 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 increase to $101 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 $403.9 million.
  • The statutory size-of-person thresholds will increase to $20.2 million and $202 million.

 

The adjustments will affect parties contemplating HSR notifications in various ways. Transactions that meet the current “size-of-transaction” threshold (but not the adjusted $101 million threshold) will only need to be filed if they will close before the new thresholds take effect on February 23, 2022.

Parties may also realize a benefit of lower notification filing fees for certain transactions. Under the rules, the acquiring person must pay a filing fee, although the parties may allocate that fee among themselves. Filing fees for HSR-reportable transactions will remain unchanged; however, the size of transactions subject to the filing fee tiers will shift upward because of the GNP-indexing adjustments:

Filing Fee Size of Transaction $45,000 $101 million, but less than $202 million $125,000 $202 million, but less than $1.0098 billion $280,000 $1.0098 billion or more



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

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.



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Notification Threshold Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Increased to $90 Million

The US Federal Trade Commission recently announced increased thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and for determining whether parties trigger the prohibition against interlocking directors under Section 8 of the Clayton Act.

Notification Threshold Adjustments

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced revised thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR) pre-merger notifications on February 15, 2019. These increased thresholds will become effective mid-to-late March. 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 filing of an HSR notification, will increase to $90 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 $359.9 million.
  • The statutory size-of-person thresholds will increase slightly to $18 million and $180 million.

The adjustments will affect parties contemplating HSR notifications in various ways. Transactions that meet the current “size-of-transaction” threshold, but will not meet the adjusted $90 million threshold, will only need to be filed if they will close before the new thresholds take effect mid-to-late March.

Parties may also realize a benefit of lower notification 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 upward as a result of the gross national product (GNP)-indexing adjustments:

Filing Fee Size-of-Transaction $45,000 $90 million, but less than $180 million $125,000 $180 million, but less than $899.8 million $280,000 $899.8 million or more Interlocking Directorate Thresholds Adjustment

The FTC also announced revised thresholds for interlocking directorates. The FTC revises these thresholds annually based on the change in the level of GNP. Section 8 of the Clayton Act prohibits a person from serving as a director or officer of two competing corporations if certain thresholds are met. Pursuant to the recently revised thresholds, Section 8 of the Clayton Act applies to corporations with more than $36,564,000 in capital, surplus and undivided profits, but it does not apply where either interlocked corporation has less than $3,656,400 in competitive sales. These new thresholds are effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register, expected within the week.




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Notification Threshold Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Increased to $76.3 Million

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced increased thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR) and 2015 thresholds for determining whether parties trigger the prohibition against interlocking directors under Section 8 of the Clayton Act.

Notification Threshold Adjustments

Pursuant to the amendments passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000, the FTC published revised thresholds for HSR pre-merger notifications in the Federal Register on January 21, 2015.  These increased thresholds will become effective on February 20, 2015.  These new thresholds apply to any transaction completed and any HSR pre-merger notifications filed on or after February 20, 2015.

As required, the FTC adjusted the notification thresholds based on the change in the gross national product (GNP) for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2014.  Most notably, the base filing threshold of $50 million, which frequently determines whether a transaction requires filing of an HSR notification, will increase from $75.9 million to $76.3 million.  The changes also will affect other dollar-amount thresholds:

  • The alternative statutory size-of-transaction test, which captures all transactions valued above $200 million regardless of the “size-of-persons,” will be adjusted to $305.1 million.
  • The statutory size-of-person thresholds (applicable to transactions valued at more than $76.3 million, but less than $305.1 million) will increase slightly from $15.2 million to $15.3 million and from $151.7 million to $152.5 million.

The adjustments will affect parties contemplating HSR notifications in various ways.  Parties may be relieved from the obligation to file a notification for transactions closed on or after February 20, 2015, that result in holdings below the adjusted base threshold.  For example, a transaction resulting in the acquiring person holding voting securities, a controlling interest in a non-corporate entity, or assets valued at less than $76.3 million would not be reportable on or after the effective date.  The adjustments will also affect various exemptions under the HSR rules.  For example, acquisitions by U.S. persons of foreign assets and voting securities of foreign issuers will now be exempt unless they generated U.S. sales in excess of $76.3 million or, in the case of foreign voting securities, the issuer has assets in the United States valued in excess of $76.3 million.

Parties may also realize a benefit of lower notification filing fees for transactions that just cross current thresholds.  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 applicable filing fee tiers will shift upward as a result of the GNP-indexing adjustments:

  • Transactions valued at or in excess of $76.3 million, but less than $152.5 million, require a $45,000 filing fee.
  • Transactions valued at or in excess of $152.5 million, but less than $762.7 million, require a $125,000 filing fee.
  • Transactions valued at or above $762.7 million require a $280,000 filing fee.

Interlocking Directorate Thresholds Adjustment

On January 21, 2015, the FTC also published revised thresholds for interlocking directorates that are effective immediately.  The FTC revises these [...]

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