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Showing archive for:  “Mergers & Merger Enforcement”

AIG/NY Fed Credit Agreement

available here. From the 8-K: On September 22, 2008, American International Group, Inc. (“AIG”) entered into an $85 billion revolving credit facility (the “Credit Facility”) and a Guarantee and Pledge Agreement (the “Pledge Agreement”) with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“NY Fed”). The Credit Facility has a two year term and bears interest ... AIG/NY Fed Credit Agreement

A High Profile Test Case for the Chinese Antimonopoly Law

Coca-Cola and China’s Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd $2.4 billion deal looks like it is set to be the first major merger test for the China’s new AML. This WSJ story gives some sense of market shares and potential market definition issues: Defining the market could be tricky. According to Merrill Lynch analysts, Coca-Cola will control ... A High Profile Test Case for the Chinese Antimonopoly Law

Merging to Second Best

Luke Froeb, Mikhael Shor and Steven Tschantz have just posted an interesting looking model of mergers in auction settings where the incumbent firm has an advantage in subsequent auctions. The model captures the intuition that sometimes a mergers creating a “second-best” rival can result in more more aggressive bidding and result in lower prices even ... Merging to Second Best

Howard Stern and Unilateral Effects

That’s a catchy title for a merger conference (HT: Danny Sokol). The program faculty include: David L. Meyer, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Ketan P. Jhaveri, Senior Associate, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Charles E. Biggio, Partner, Wilson, Sonsini,Goodrich & Rosati, J. Gregory Sidak, Criterion Economics, LLC . For those ... Howard Stern and Unilateral Effects

AALS Agency, Partnerships and LLCs Section Call for Papers

Larry Ribstein is organizing the upcoming AALS session of agency, partnerships and LLCs and has posted the following call for papers: The Section on Agency, Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies is calling for papers for the 2009 AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego. We are interested in presentations on the application of modern theories and ... AALS Agency, Partnerships and LLCs Section Call for Papers

Welcome D.C. Circuit Law Clerks to our Whole Foods Coverage

Our friends at Antitrust Review point to the Petition for Rehearing En Banc in Whole Foods. As readers of the blog will know, Geoff and Thom have been exhaustively covering the Whole Foods litigation. Now, their latest efforts have been cited by the parties in the Petition (see n. 1) as leading examples of the ... Welcome D.C. Circuit Law Clerks to our Whole Foods Coverage

Antitrust Fallacies of Fact and Theory

Steve Hurwitz as a characteristically thoughtful and provocative post over at Austrian Economists on identifying the most dangerous fallacies of fact and theory in economics that a reasonably informed layperson would believe. Steve’s nominations are that the average person believes that the “economic well-being of the average American is on the decline” (fallacy of fact) ... Antitrust Fallacies of Fact and Theory

Why Antitrust?

As the start of the new academic year inches closer, and students are deciding what courses to take, I thought I’d give a little plug to antitrust law. I’ve seen enrollment in antitrust courses vary dramatically over the past 10 years or so since I was a student and now as a professor. I certainly ... Why Antitrust?

The Price of Merger Approval and Triple Federal Enforcement

Geoff and Thom (see the comments) continue to have the Whole Foods litigation covered.  I don’t and can’t have anything to add to their comments about the particulars of the litigation.  I will note, playing off my previous post on bad case law out there looking to be overturned, that there is significant demand for ... The Price of Merger Approval and Triple Federal Enforcement

Baker on Market Concentration and Horizontal Mergers

Jonathan Baker (American University) has posted Market Concentration in the Antitrust Analysis of Horizontal Mergers to SSRN. Baker’s article is another of the entries which will be appearing in the forthcoming Antitrust Law and Economics volume edited by Keith Hylton (Elgar Publishing) (see this post for links to others).  Here is the abstract: This handbook ... Baker on Market Concentration and Horizontal Mergers

A Few Thoughts on Privacy and Antitrust

In the comments to this post, Peter Swire (Ohio State) points to some recent comments (see also here and  here) he submitted to the Federal Trade Commission on how to incorporate privacy into conventional antitrust analysis.  The privacy and antitrust link appears to be something that will receive quite a bit of attention in the ... A Few Thoughts on Privacy and Antitrust

Picker on Competition, Privacy and Web 2.0

Randy Picker (HT: Randy) has posted an interesting new paper to SSRN entitled “Competition and Privacy in Web 2.0 and the Cloud“.   It is an insightful look at the how privacy rules imposed on Web intermediaries might raise competition concerns.  Consider, for example, the relationship between privacy rules and vertical integration that Picker highlights as ... Picker on Competition, Privacy and Web 2.0