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ARTICLE · 11 SEPTEMBER 2020

DOJ Antitrust Division Releases New Merger Remedies Manual

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On September 3, 2020, the DOJ's Antitrust Division released its Merger Remedies Manual.

United StatesAntitrust/Competition Law
Leo Caseria
Leo Caseria
Robert Magielnicki
Robert Magielnicki
Malika Levarlet
Malika Levarlet
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On September 3, 2020, the DOJ's Antitrust Division released its Merger Remedies Manual. The manual provides important guidance on what DOJ considers to be adequate solutions to addressing competitive issues in M&A deals challenged by DOJ. Several key points are identified below.

  1. Most mergers are not problematic, and remedies should be narrowly tailored to preserve competition. DOJ's manual notes that "most mergers are not anticompetitive and may benefit consumers." Remedies should "be no more intrusive than necessary to cure the competitive harm." "[T]he purpose of a remedy is not to enhance premerger competition but to preserve it."
  2. DOJ wants divestitures. If a merger is anticompetitive and a fix is required, the DOJ "strongly" prefers "structural" remedies that involve divesting businesses or assets to a third party buyer in order to preserve competition, as opposed to "behavioral" remedies that involve a promise to behave a certain way in the future. As

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