Following the publication of proposed rules back in February,
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued final rules to
establish procedures for the withdrawal of Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR)
filings. The rules, which do not differ from those originally
proposed in February, codify the informal "pull and
refile" practice parties sometime use to allow an agency an
additional 30 days to review a transaction (in the hopes of staving
off a Second Request).
The rules also establish a procedure for automatically
withdrawing HSR filings when parties make certain filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announcing that a
transaction has been abandoned. In the interest of not
spending resources on "hypothetical" transactions, HSR
filings will be automatically withdrawn when, in the case of a
tender offer (TO), the tender offer has expired, terminated or has
otherwise been withdrawn, resulting in a filing of an amended
Schedule TO with the SEC. In the case of
