Articles Posted in FTC Antitrust Highlights

On April 13, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico issued a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) to prevent Western Refining, Inc. from closing on its proposed $1.4 billion acquisition of Giant Industries, Inc., pending the completion of a preliminary injunction hearing.On April 10, 2007, the FTC approved a complaint challenging the acquisition…

On March 30, the FTC approved a petition for proposed divestiture from Thermo Electron Corporation (“Thermo”). Under the consent agreement and order with the FTC regarding Thermo’s proposed acquisition of Fisher Scientific International, Inc., the respondent was required to divest the high-performance centrifugal vacuum evaporators (“CVE”s) assets, to a Commission-approved buyer. In its petition, Thermo…

On March 16, following a public comment period, the FTC approved the issuance of a final consent order in the matter concerning the acquisition of interests in Kinder Morgan, Inc by TC Group LLC (The Carlyle Group) et al. The Commission vote was 3-1, with Commissioner Jon Leibowitz voting no and Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch…

On March 15, the FTC approved a complaint challenging Equitable Resources, Inc.’s (“Equitable”) proposed acquisition of The Peoples Natural Gas Company (“Dominion Peoples”), a subsidiary of Dominion Resources, Inc., on the basis that the merger would create a monopoly in the sale of natural gas in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The complaint alleged that Equitable and Dominion…

On March 12, the FTC received a petition from Service Corporation International (“SCI”) and Alderwoods Group, Inc. seeking approval of a proposed divestiture related to SCI’s recent acquisition of Alderwoods. In the FTC’s consent agreement and order SCI and Alderwoods were required to divest a range of funeral home and cemetery services companies. Through this…

On March 9, the FTC approved an application for a proposed divestiture from Linde AG and The BOC Group plc concerning an August 29, 2006, FTC consent order regarding the acquisition of BOC by Linde. Under the terms of the order, the parties were required, among other things, to divest the relevant “Atmospheric Gases Assets”…

On March 6, the FTC received a supplemental petition from Service Corporation International (“SCI”) and Alderwoods Group, Inc. seeking approval of a proposed divestiture related to SCI’s recent acquisition of Alderwoods. The FTC’s agreement and order required SCI and Alderwoods to divest a range of funeral home and cemetery services companies in order to guarantee…

On February 27, the FTC approved a petition from General Dynamics Corporation (“General Dynamics”) to divest its 50% interest in American Ordinance LLC (“AO”). The divestiture was required to maintain competition in the U.S. and Canadian markets for melt-pour load, assemble, and pack (“LAP”) services. Through its petition, General Dynamics requested Commission approval to divest…

On February 23, the Commission approved an application for divestiture from Dan L. Duncan (“Duncan”); EPCO, Inc. (“EPCO”); Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Company, LLC; and TEPPCO Partners, L.P. (together “TEPPCO”), concerning a 2006 FTC order related to TEPPCO’s interest in the Mont Belvieu Storage Partners, L.P. (“MBSP”). Under the terms of the FTC decision and…

On February 16, the Commission received a petition from Service Corporation International (“SCI”) and Alderwoods Group, Inc. seeking approval of a proposed divestiture related to SCI’s recent acquisition of Alderwoods. The FTC’s consent agreement and order required that SCI and Alderwoods divest a range of funeral home and cemetery service companies. Through this petition, the…