Articles Posted in DOJ Antitrust Highlights

On February 25, 2008, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (“United”) and Sierra Health Services Inc. (“Sierra”) entered into a settlement agreement that required United to divest assets relating to United’s Medicare Advantage business in the Las Vegas area in order to proceed with United’s acquisition of Sierra. Allegedly, the transaction, as originally proposed, would have created a…

On February 19, 2008, the Antitrust Division entered into a settlement agreement requiring The Thomson Corporation (“Thomson”) to sell financial data and related assets in three markets for financial data in order to proceed with Thomson’s proposed $17 billion acquisition of Reuters Group PLC (“Reuters”). Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Thomson and Reuters…

On February 13, 2008, the DOJ entered into a settlement agreement with Clear Channel, the largest operator of radio stations in the United States, to divest radio stations in four cities in order for a group of private equity investors led by Bain Capital (“Bain”) and Thomas H. Lee Partners (“THL”) to proceed with their…

On February 6, 2008, Ohio-based Alliance National Limited Partnership, which does business as DeMilta Iron & Metal Ltd. (“DeMilta Iron”), and its owner, Francis DeMilta, were indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to allocate scrap metal suppliers in Northeast Ohio. The indictment charges Mr. DeMilta and the company with participating in a conspiracy…

On January 24, 2008 the DOJ announced that it will require Pearson Plc to divest assets relating to three clinical testing markets in order to proceed with Pearson’s proposed $950 million acquisition of Harcourt Assessment. The DOJ claimed that the deal would have resulted in higher prices to purchasers of clinical tests, including many school…

Two U.S. Department of Defense (“DOD”) contractors were arrested in New York City on January 6, 2008, and charged with conspiring to steal information relating to DOD contracts to supply fuel to DOD aircraft worldwide. Two contractor firms and a third individual are also charged with participating in the conspiracies. The Department said the conspiracies…

On November 7, 2007, the Department of Justice announced that Mister A.C. Ltd. (Mister A.C.), a Rockville Center, N.Y. heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) services company and its owner, Michael Vignola, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan for rigging bids to NYPH from approximately 2002 until January of 2006. Mr. Vignola also…

On October 24, 2007, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it will require two of the nation’s largest newsprint manufacturers – Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. and Bowater Inc.- to divest a newsprint mill in Arizona. As originally laid out, the DOJ alleged that the $1.6 billion transaction would have considerably hampered competition in the production and…

On November 13, 2007, the Department of Justice announced that it reached a settlement that will require Vulcan Materials Company and Florida Rock Industries Inc. to divest eight quarries that produce coarse aggregate in Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia and one distribution yard in Virginia in order to proceed with their proposed $4.6 billion merger. The…

On October 9, 2007 the Federal Trade Commission entered into a settlement agreement with Kyphon, Inc. (“Kyphon”) that allows Kyphon to acquire the spinal assets of Disc-O-Tech Medical Technologies, Ltd. and Discotech Orthopedic Technologies, Inc. (collectively “Disc-O-Tech”).According to the complaint filed with the settlement agreement, the post-merger U.S. market for minimally invasive vertebral compression fracture…