As Feds Stalk Anticompetitive Mergers, What Can Competitors Do?

Eight Ways to Respond When Your Rivals Merge.

Continuing to make good on President Biden's pledge to root out and challenge anticompetitive mergers, the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have asked the public to join the hunt.

On May 23, the agencies publicly asked companies for information they may have on any serial acquisitions and "roll-up strategies" being undertaken across the U.S. economy. These would be smaller "stealth acquisitions" consummated under the radar in critical industry sectors that can, although gradually, harm competition, innovation, consumers, and workers just as dramatically as large deals.

The competition law enforcers want to be proactive in finding these stealthy deals which evade detection, partially because they fall below the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) reporting threshold. The agencies want to give the same attention to certain smaller deals that they dedicate to headline-grabbers, efforts