Articles Posted in FTC Antitrust Highlights

On August 13, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) ordered Sun Pharmaceutical Industry Ltd (“Sun”) to sell all rights and assets of three distinct generic formulations of the anticonvulsant drug carbamazepine to Torrent Pharmaceutical Ltd, a generic drug company based in India, for its acquisition of Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (“Taro”) to proceed.Sun, based in…

On August 7, 2008, William E. Kovacic, the Federal Trade Commission Chairman, announced that Jeffery Schmidt, the Director of the Bureau of Competition for the past two and half years, will be leaving the FTC. Mr. Kovacic has named David P. Wales, the deputy director of the Bureau of Competition, as the Acting Director.Mr. Schmidt,…

On July 30, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) entered into a settlement agreement that allows McCormick & Company Inc.’s (“McCormick”) proposed $605 million acquisition of Lawry’s and Adolph’s brands of seasoned salt products from Unilever N.V. (“Unilever”) to proceed. According to the FTC’s complaint, McCormick’s Season-All brand competes with Lawry’s brands in the manufacture…

On July 17, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a complaint challenging the proposed $9 billion acquisition of V&S Vin & Sprit (“V&S”), a wholly owned corporation of the Kingdom of Sweden, by Pernod Ricard (“Pernod”), a wholly owned subsidiary of France-based Pernod. The FTC contends that the transaction is anticompetitive and violates U.S.…

On July 14, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced the launch of a new online resource, the FTC Guide to the Antitrust Laws. This resource, written in layman’s terms summarizes the core laws that ban unfair business practices and prevent mergers that harm consumers, and explains how antitrust cases are brought by U.S., State,…

On June 30, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), in a 4-0 vote, issued a complaint against the proposed acquisition of INEOS Group Limited (“INEOS”) by Carlyle Partners IV (“Carlyle”). INEOS is the third largest sodium silicate producer and seller in the highly concentrated Midwest region of the United States. PQ Corporation (“PQ”), owned by…

On June 6, 2008, Inova Health System Foundation (“INOVA”) withdrew its offer to acquire Prince William Health System (“PWHS”) after determining that the FTC’s lawsuit to block the deal would not be resolved for a very long period of time.On May 12, 2008, the FTC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court of Eastern…

On May 16, 2008, in a unanimous opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a 2006 Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) decision that found the North Texas Specialty Physicians (“NTSP”), based in Fort Worth, TX, participated in horizontal price fixing activities.The Court found that the FTC’s decision was correct and there was…

On May 6, 2008 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) modified its previous order in 2000 prohibiting Nine West Group, Inc. from fixing retail prices with dealers. The FTC modified the order by granting Nine West permission to engage in resale price maintenance (RPM) with a caveat that the company would have to provide periodic reports…

On May 5, 2008, in 4-0 vote, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) entered into a settlement agreement that allowed Agrium, Inc. to buy UAP Holding Corporation (“UAP”) for $2.5 billion, making UAP a wholly owned subsidiary of Agrium. Agrium is required to sell five UAP farm stores in Michigan and two Agrium stores in Maryland…