Scott Sher Discusses Upcoming Changes to Merger Review Requirements With Law360

Global Antitrust Practice Group Co-Chair Scott Sher spoke with Law360 about the impending updates to merger notification requirements set to take effect on February 10. The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission’s more than 400-page rule will require merging parties to provide a wide range of additional disclosures that the regulators say are necessary to better steer antitrust reviews and deals, but that many antitrust practitioners feel are overly burdensome and unnecessary. In “FTC Tries To Plug Holes In Massive Merger Review Overhaul,” published on February 5, Scott asserts that the new rules are a solution to a nonexistent problem; he has only ever seen a tiny handful of deals that seem to evade regulatory scrutiny in initial notification submissions only for agencies to pick up on an issue later, he notes. Scott also raises concerns about the “bandwidth” of FTC and DOJ staff to review the new mountain of information coming their way.

» read the article