Legal Dive quoted partner David Brenneman and cited a Morgan Lewis analysis in an article about recent trends in second-request reviews by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under the federal government’s premerger review process. The article reports that during the first two fiscal years of the Biden administration the agencies sought second-request reviews at comparable rates to the Trump administration and the last term of the Obama administration.
“The data should provide some comfort to dealmakers,” David said. “The likelihood of a major antitrust merger investigation has not increased from prior administrations and remains very low.”
However, according to the article, the rate at which the DOJ and FTC seek settlements with companies that have a deal subject to a second request has dropped.
“The drop in settlements has increased the danger that a second request poses to deal completion, with data suggesting that parties to most second request transactions in the last year or two will abandon them to avoid litigation [or] abandon them during litigation,” the analysis says.