Merger Filing Fee Increases Among Antitrust Measures Included In 2023 Spending Bill

December 27, 2022 - The government spending bill passed by Congress on December 23 includes several antitrust measures. The most notable of these makes significant changes to pre-merger notification filing fees, with the goal of increasing the financial resources available to antitrust enforcers. President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law imminently.

The Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act establishes a new filing fee structure for transactions that require Hart-Scott-Rodino pre-merger filings, decreasing the filing fee required for most transactions while raising fees significantly for the largest deals. The new fee structure is as follows: (i) transactions valued at under $1 billion will incur fees ranging from $30,000 to $250,000; (ii) transactions valued between $1 billion and $2 billion will require a $400,000 filing fee; (iii) transactions valued between $2 billion and $5 billion will require a $800,000 fee; and (iv) transactions valued above $5