After leaving practitioners and their clients waiting for months with bated breath, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released its final changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notification form. The consensus seems to be that the proverbial bark that accompanied the amendments when they were initially published in June 2023 may have been worse than the bite taken by the final rule announced on October 10. Under the HSR Act, transacting parties whose contemplated mergers exceed certain size and dollar thresholds must submit a notification form to the FTC and to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice at least 30 days before closing so that those regulators can review the competitive effects of a deal before it is consummated. Most deals proceed to close after the 30-day waiting period with no regulatory action taken, but a small subset garner a “second request” for additional information, and a few of those wind up in litigation with regulators seeking to enjoin the deal because of its potential to harm competition in the relevant market. Proposed amendments to the form – the most far-reaching updates in more than four decades – created a stir when they were published two summers ago. As proposed, the changes worked a significant overhaul, with businesses concerned about what was perceived to... The post On Notice: FTC Releases Final Changes to Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification Form appeared first on Gibbons Law Alert.

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