Dialysis Provider Becomes the First Entity Subjected to the FTC’s New Restrictions on Future Mergers

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced in July of this year that, going forward, whenever merging parties settled an FTC merger challenge, the settlement would impose restrictions on the ability of the merging parties to consummate any future acquisitions, regardless of size, for a period of ten years. This announcement reversed FTC policy (which had been in effect for 25 years), that – absent unusual circumstances – treated each merger, and each merging party, as a new and distinct matter, subject to long-standing merger principles.  In announcing the decision, FTC Director Holly Vedova stated that “The FTC should not have to waste valuable time and resources investigating clearly anticompetitive deals that should have died in the boardroom,” and that this new policy will “force acquisitive firms to think twice before going on a buying binge because the FTC can simply say no.” Read More ›