HSR Final Rule

Major New Requirements

On October 10, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") approved new rules for reporting mergers and acquisitions to the FTC and the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Hart-Scott-Rodino ("HSR") Act (the "HSR Rules"). The new HSR Rules come over a year after the FTC originally proposed a draft version of the rules for public review and comment on July 27, 2023 ("Draft Rules") and while they will require substantially more information for strategic transactions (i.e., those with a competitive overlap or a vertical relationship between the parties), they are less burdensome in many respects than the Draft Rules. The new HSR Rules are set to go into effect in mid-January 2025, and as a result, parties should allot more time for preparation than the current HSR form for certain transactions involving overlapping products or services between the parties. Below, find a summary of key changes and their implications.