The Paul, Weiss Antitrust Practice advises clients on a full range of global antitrust matters, including antitrust regulatory clearance, government investigations, private litigation, and counseling and compliance. The firm represents clients before antitrust and competition authorities in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions around the world.
Scott Sher Discusses the Effect of New U.S. Merger Guidelines on Add-On Deals With S&P Global Market Intelligence
February 13, 2024
Antitrust partner Scott Sher spoke with S&P Global Market Intelligence about how add-on acquisitions, a common value-creation strategy for private equity firms, face the possibility of increased regulatory scrutiny after the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission released a new set of merger guidelines in December 2023. In the article, “New U.S. Merger Guidelines Threaten to Increase Pressure on PE Add-On Deals,” published on February 13, Scott says that roll-up transactions in particular—in which a private equity firm acquires several companies in the same industry and merges them together—will be much more closely scrutinized.
Scott adds that, when reviewing such transactions, agencies will consider the cumulative effect on competition of the entire series of transactions, even if prior deals were not reportable under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.