The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently modified the premerger notification form and rules for transactions reportable under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR Act). The new form and the amendments to the HSR rules will become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, which is expected shortly. Transactions filed with the FTC and the DOJ prior to this date, meaning at least prior to August 10, 2011, will NOT be required to comply with the new rules.

Almost every aspect of the form will be affected in some way. With the exceptions noted below, the changes will reduce the burden on filing parties, particularly for acquisitive clients such as private equity firms and certain strategic buyers.

Reduced Burdens

The FTC recognized that many items in the HSR Form do not generate information useful to antitrust enforcement. As a result, many of these items have been modified or dropped completely. The most significant of these changes are summarized below:

New Items

In addition to removing or altering certain items on the HSR Form, the new rules also require parties to submit additional information. These new requirements are intended to permit the agencies to more thoughtfully study the competitive effects of the proposed transaction. In some cases, these changes formalize long-standing informal FTC requirements and practices. Some of the key changes are:

Morgan Lewis is commonly retained to make HSR filings on behalf of private equity firms and global Fortune 100 companies for transactions in which other firms have been retained to handle the M&A aspect of the same transaction. Over the last nine months, Morgan Lewis has made HSR Act filings for nearly 4% of all reportable transactions.

Footnote

1. Under the HSR Rules, "person" here refers to the "Ultimate Parent" of the filing acquiring party and any entity it "Controls." To avoid reader exhaustion, we have not incorporated the detailed rules relating to "ultimate parent" and "control" in this LawFlash.

Copyright 2011. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. All Rights Reserved.

This article is provided as a general informational service and it should not be construed as imparting legal advice on any specific matter.