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ARTICLE · 02 OCTOBER 2023

Antitrust Enforcement Spotlight On Private Equity Buyers

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Early in her tenure, Federal Trade Commission (the "FTC") Chair Lina Khan vowed to take a "muscular" approach to regulating U.S. private equity dealmaking.

United StatesAntitrust/Competition Law
Gail F. Levine
Gail F. Levine
Camila Panama
Camila Panama
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Early in her tenure, Federal Trade Commission (the "FTC") Chair Lina Khan vowed to take a "muscular" approach to regulating U.S. private equity dealmaking. Recent events, such as the FTC's targeting of roll-ups, make clear, more than ever before, that U.S. private equity buyers should consider antitrust strategy when seeking to get deals done.

On September 21, 2023, in the current administration's first litigated case challenging serial acquisitions by a private equity firm, the FTC challenged Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe's ("Welsh Carson") roll-up strategy of anesthesiology practices across Texas. The FTC brought suit against Welsh Carson and its partially owned portfolio company, U.S. Anesthesia Partners, Inc. ("USAP"), in Texas federal court, accusing them of using a roll-up scheme to systemically acquire "nearly every large anesthesia practice in Texas to create a single dominant provider with the power to demand higher prices." That same day, Chair Khan

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