Antitrust Lawyer Blog

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 21, Robert Taylor, the former president of a Clearbrook, Virginia marine products company agreed to plead guilty for his participation in two separate conspiracies to rig bids and allocate customers with respect to marine products purchased by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other public and private entities. Mr. Taylor was…

On February 20, the DOJ announced Mittal Steel Company N.V. must divest its Sparrows Point facility, located near Baltimore, Maryland to remedy the competitive harm arising from Mittal’s $33 billion acquisition of Arcelor S.A. On Aug. 1, 2006, the Antitrust Division entered into a settlement agreement with Mittal and Arcerlor that provided for various options…

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…

On February 9, the FTC received a petition for approval of a proposed divestiture from Thermo Electron Corporation. Under the order, Thermo was required to divest the high-performance centrifugal vacuum evaporators (“CVE”s) assets to a Commission-approved buyer. In the petition, Thermo requested FTC approval to divest the CVE assets to Riverlake Partners, L.P. (Riverlake) and,…

On February 2, a Canadian telemarketer that falsely claimed it could reduce U.S. consumers’ credit card rates, was stopped by a federal court. The FTC’s complaint alleges that the defendants have sold credit card interest rate reduction services since December 2005, claiming affiliation with consumers’ credit card companies. The defendants promise to effect credit card…

On January 18, the Commission announced its challenge to Hospira Inc.’s (“Hospira”) proposed $2 billion acquisition of rival drug manufacturer Mayne Pharma Ltd. (“Mayne”), along with an agreement and order requiring the companies to sell assets used to manufacture and supply five generic injectable pharmaceuticals in order for the transaction to proceed. Absent relief, the…

On January 17, testifying before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on the subject of anticompetitive patent settlements in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz said that recent court cases have made it more difficult to bring antitrust cases to stop exclusion payment settlements between brand manufacturers and their generic competitors, and that…

On January 9, the Commission received a petition from Service Corporation International (SCI) and Alderwoods Group, Inc. seeking approval to divest the properties listed below under three sale agreements, to KAG, LLC, which, prior to the closing of the transaction, will be a subsidiary of NorthStar Memorial Group, LLC.The first sale agreement includes: Graceland Memorial…