News & Events

Litigation Partner Sara Razi was quoted in a Law360 article, “2^nd Requests Almost Always Spell Trouble For Deals.” The article discussed Cornerstone Research’s second annual report on merger investigation and enforcement in the U.S. which found that the chances of a deal clearing antitrust review unharmed falls dramatically once a second request for information is handed out, especially in fiscal year 2015. Of the 258 preliminary investigations in 2015, there were 47 second requests for information from the DOJ and FTC, and 42 merger challenges, representing 89% of second requests. Deal size also played a role in the likelihood of a second request, more so in 2015 than years prior, the report found. “The agencies have dug into these big mergers. They are not shy about investigating and challenging and litigating against these large companies. It’s consistent with active merger investigations and enforcement generally. I do think there was maybe a consistent increase in the level of rigor that the agencies brought to their investigations over the course of the Obama years,” noted Sara. Going forward, Sara commented that there might be a slight downturn in the number of second requests due to the new administration.

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