Articles Posted in Merger Highlights

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, under the Biden administration, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit on January 10, 2025, to block American Express Global Business Travel’s (Amex GBT) $570 million acquisition of CWT Holdings LLC. The case was dismissed by the DOJ in July 2025, just before a scheduled trial in September 2025,…

If your company is filing a premerger notification form with the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, do not forget to simultaneously file with relevant states that have enacted premerger notification laws. The first two states to enact these laws are Washington and Colorado. Washington Premerger Notification Law As of July 27, 2025, federal…

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Juniper Networks on June 28, 2025, resolving concerns over HPE’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. The settlement required HPE to divest its Instant On wireless networking business and license Juniper’s Mist AI software source code to independent competitors to…

Introduction Under the Biden administration, U.S. antitrust agencies, particularly the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), took a hardline stance against negotiated merger remedies. Instead of settling, they often challenged mergers outright or allowed deals to close without formal conditions, expressing doubts about the effectiveness of remedies like structural…

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to challenge Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks is misguided and threatens innovation and U.S. competitiveness.  Gail Slater, the newly confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, should reconsider this decision and assess its broader implications for competition, innovation, and national interests. Facing…

7 Eleven and Speedway  announced the transaction in August 2020.  The FTC issued Second Requests for information to the parties and investigated the transaction because it raised a number of competitive concerns in various local geographic markets.  The parties negotiated a divestiture of approximately 300 stores with the FTC staff to remedy the antitrust concerns. …

On June 26, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) entered into a settlement agreement that allowed Eldorado Resorts, Inc. (“Eldorado”) to acquire Caesars Entertainment Corporation (“Caesars”) for $17.3 billion. Background Eldorado agreed to acquire Caesars for $17.3 billion on June 24, 2019. Eldorado is a provider of casino entertainment and hospitality services, operating 23 casino…

On May 5, 2020, the FTC approved AbbVie Inc.’s (“AbbVie”) $63 billion acquisition of Allergan plc (“Allergan”) on the condition that the merging parties divest three minor products.  The consent agreement was approved by a 3-2 party line vote. The FTC has a long history of scrutinizing transactions in the pharmaceutical industry, but Commissioners’ statements demonstrate that they are not on…

On February 18, 2020, a group of unions, consumer groups, and public interest organizations filed a letter with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) raising concerns that the divestiture of Allergan plc’s (“Allergan”) pipeline drug, brazikumab, will not succeed unless the FTC addresses AbbVie’s use of rebate walls. Consumer Group Concerns Regarding Rebate Walls and…

The federal antitrust agencies continue their emphasis on investigating, challenging, and unwinding consummated transactions that are not reportable under the Hart Scott Rodino (“HSR”) Act. Most recently, on November 6, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued an Opinion and Final Order in which the Commission upheld the Administrative Law Judge’s (“ALJ”) decision that Otto…