Representatives from antitrust enforcement agencies around the
world converged in Washington, D.C. last week to attend the
American Bar Association's 67th Spring Meeting of the Section
of Antitrust Law. Over 3,000 delegates attended the conference,
including government officials from a number of international
antitrust agencies. Represented agencies used this opportunity to
communicate their enforcement priorities, as well as weigh in on
key issues in merger review, antitrust litigation, and cartel
enforcement. We provide key highlights below.
MERGER ENFORCEMENT
Close scrutiny of vertical mergers will continue
Vertical mergers remained a hot topic at this year's Spring
Meeting. In the wake of the D.C. Circuit's recent affirmance of
the district court's decision not to block the AT&T/Time
Warner merger and the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) votes to
allow the Staples/Essendant and Fresenius/NxStage deals to go
forward, officials from both agencies stated they
