Publication
Distress signals: Cooperation agreements or mergers to the rescue in times of crisis?
The current volatile and unpredictable economic climate creates challenges for businesses.
Author:
Global | Publication | July 2023
On July 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) (together, Agencies) published for public comment the draft of their updated Merger Guidelines (Guidelines). The new Guidelines closely describe current Agency practice including novel theories of harm that the Agencies have advanced in investigations and in courts under the current administration.
The Guidelines amend, replace and consolidate the Horizontal Merger Guidelines published in 2010 and the Vertical Merger Guidelines published in 2020. The Guidelines and their predecessors are not legally binding but historically provided some predictability to the private bar and merging parties when evaluating the antitrust risk of proposed transactions.
The new Guidelines place an emphasis on transactions that tend to create a monopoly, advance new theories of harm relating to competition in labor markets and codify aggressive new thresholds for what transactions the Agencies view as presumptively illegal.
The new Merger Guidelines are subject to a 60-day public comment period, closing on September 18, 2023.
We continue to analyze the proposed Guidelines and are happy to discuss their impact on your business. Specifically, we are evaluating the potential impact of these on certain industries. If you would like to be notified of our future commentary on the proposed guidelines, please click here to choose from a list of subject matter areas.
Please join us for a Competitive edge: Quick take webinar on the New Merger Guidelines on Tuesday, August 1, at 11:00 am Eastern.
Publication
The current volatile and unpredictable economic climate creates challenges for businesses.
Publication
Recent tariffs and other trade measures have transformed the international trade landscape, impacting almost every sector, region and business worldwide.
Publication
In mid-March 2025, Cognia Law and Norton Rose Fulbright’s Legal Operations Consulting team co-hosted a second roundtable event that brought together senior leaders, including GCs, COO and head of legal operations, from across the legal industry to discuss how to drive meaningful change within the legal ecosystem.
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