Federal Trade Commission Announces Revised, Higher Pre-Merger Filing Thresholds

On January 17, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced revised, higher Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) pre-merger notification filing thresholds. The FTC adjusts the HSR thresholds annually to represent the increase or decrease in GNP. These revised thresholds will become effective 30 days from the date on which notice is published in the Federal Register, which should occur within the next week. As such, we expect that these new thresholds will become effective by late February. Once we know the precise effective date for these adjusted thresholds, we will publish an On The Subject that can be distributed to clients. Clients with transactions pending may benefit from the higher threshold if the transaction closes on or after the effective date and ultimately falls below the revised threshold.