2018 S&S Annual Antitrust Report

Shearman & Sterling publishes its sixth annual Antitrust Annual Report today. The 2018 Report discerns two key trends – a global resurgence of controls on foreign direct investment and the focus on ‘fairness’ developing in the European Union (EU). The report also discusses various other important developments in international competition law enforcement.

Categories: EU Antitrust Basics, EU Cartels, EU Distribution, EU Enforcement, EU Mergers, US Antitrust Basics, US Cartels, US Distribution, US Enforcement, US Mergers

Antitrust Annual Report Surveys Recent Antitrust Developments

In its 2016 Annual Report, Shearman & Sterling's Antitrust Group discusses 19 major trends in antitrust law worldwide in merger control, cartels, compliance, unilateral conduct, antitrust litigation, and state aid.

Categories: EU Antitrust Basics, EU Cartels, EU Distribution, EU Enforcement, EU Mergers, US Antitrust Basics, US Cartels, US Distribution, US Enforcement, US Mergers

Activism (Re)Defined: DOJ Files Complaint Against ValueAct for Alleged HSR Act Violation

On April 4, 2016, the US Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil antitrust suit against activist investor ValueAct Capital seeking at least $19 million of civil penalties for ValueAct’s alleged violation of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, 15 U.S.C. § 18a (“the HSR Act”).

Categories: US Enforcement, US Mergers

No X-Ray Vision at the FTC: Court Hands Agency a Rare Defeat in the Steris/Synergy Merger

In FTC v. Steris, the FTC was handed a rare litigation defeat. The case was notable because it involved a merger between companies who were not current competitors. The FTC alleged that without the merger, Synergy would have entered the US sterilization market with a disruptive new technology that would have undermined the current duopoly and benefited customers. The court found little in the evidence to support the FTC’s theory. To be sure, there will be some soul-searching at the FTC as to how the Court could find the weight of the evidence so strongly on the side of the merging parties. However, because the case was decided on the single factual question of whether Synergy would have entered the U.S. market independently, the case has little precedential value and is unlikely to significantly alter the FTC’s general approach to mergers involving potential competitors. See here for our analysis of the case.

Categories: US Enforcement, US Mergers