FTC And DOJ Adopt Amendments To The HSR Form

Expanded Information and Document Requests Increase Burdens for Private Equity Firms and Other Filers

On July 7, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice ("DOJ") announced final modifications to the Hart-Scott-Rodino ("HSR") Premerger Notification Rules ("Rules") and Report Form1 that will become effective in early August 2011.2 Issued after a public comment period, these final amended rules contain revisions to the agencies‟ draft modifications initially released in August. The initial draft modifications were discussed in a prior Fried Frank Alert. See FTC Proposes Amendments to the HSR Act Form (August 16, 2010).3

In many respects, as discussed below, the revised HSR Form streamlines and reduces the burden on filing parties by eliminating and narrowing certain information requests. However, the revised HSR Form contains two important changes that impose potentially significant additional burdens on filers.