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McDermott Will & Emery’s antitrust team is pleased to invite you to a webinar providing an overview of emerging antitrust issues in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and joint venture transactions, case developments on employee non-solicitation arrangements and developing issues around alleged price manipulation in energy markets.  We will also provide a summary of the aggressive enforcement environment in the second term of the Obama administration.  Our panel of highly experienced antitrust practitioners will cover the following topics during the presentation:

• The antitrust enforcement environment—The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have been very active in challenging transactions and other business conduct, and have become far more adept at trying cases to victory.   

• Merger remedies—The regulators have been more aggressive in insisting upon full structural relief, such as the divestiture of a facility (e.g., a power plant), and rejecting remedies short of that, such as contractual ‘divestiture’ of a plant’s output. 

• Joint bidding for valuable assets—Several investigations and lawsuits have arisen from energy companies’ arrangements in bidding for oil and gas rights, including a DOJ settlement in the Gunnison / SGI case, and government investigations and private litigation in the Chesapeake / Encana matter.  Similar issues can arise for private equity and other firms in the context of bidding for corporate acquisitions. 

• Collective actions relating to employment—DOJ has obtained several consent orders, and multiple private litigations are proceeding, challenging non-solicitation, wage and salary standards, and other arrangements that may tend to suppress competition in hiring employees. 

• Price manipulation—Reminiscent of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s investigation of alleged false price reporting to natural gas price industry publications, the European Commission and FTC recently launched investigations into alleged collusive manipulation of the price of Brent crude oil futures traded on futures exchanges.  Private antitrust litigation is now pending against major oil producers and trading houses.