FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division weigh premerger protocol changes

With Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice concurrence, the Federal Trade Commission is proposing changes to the premerger notification form and associated instructions, as well as the premerger notification rules implementing the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. That law and its implementing rules require the parties to certain mergers and acquisitions to submit premerger notification to…

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California cement plant deal spotlights feds’ misdirected market concentration concerns

by Don Marsh Through direct action or implication of costly, prolonged legal measures, the Federal Trade Commission has helped quell a second cement plant sale in as many years. In 2021, the agency challenged the proposed sale of Giant Cement Holdings’ Keystone Cement mill in Bath, Pa. to Heidelberg Materials, then operating as Lehigh Hanson Inc. FTC officials cited concerns…

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Lehigh, Giant parents scrap Keystone Cement purchase agreement

Sources: U.S. Federal Trade Commission; CP staff HeidelbergCement AG of Germany and Elementia S.A.B. de C.V. of Mexico, along with their North American subsidiaries—Lehigh Hanson Inc., Lehigh Cement Co. LLC and Giant Cement Holding, Keystone Cement Co., respectively—have terminated an agreement regarding the sale of Keystone’s Bath, Pa. plant to Lehigh Cement. The move responds to a U.S. Federal Trade…

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Feds weigh Lehigh commitment to Keystone Cement powder pricing

Sources: U.S. Federal Trade Commission; CP staff The Federal Trade Commission is preparing for a November 2021 administrative trial aimed at blocking or altering the terms of Lehigh Cement Co. LLC’s purchase of Keystone Cement, arguing that the $151 million deal will harm regional competition and violate the FTC and Clayton Acts.

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Commission staff assess cloud services security for businesses

From the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection’s Elisa Jillson and Andy Hasty … As cloud computing has become business as usual, frequent news reports of data breaches and other missteps should make companies think carefully about how they secure their data. The Federal Trade Commission has tips for business about making use of cloud services safer—both for owners and customers who rely on them to safeguard their information.

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Merger-bound parent companies prepare Essroc, Lehigh asset sale: one mill, nine terminals

Sources: U.S. Federal Trade Commission; HeidelbergCement AG, Germany; CP staff

The Federal Trade Commission has outlined terms of the final regulatory clearance hovering the proposed merger of Lehigh Hanson Inc. and Essroc Cement Corp. parents HeidelbergCement AG and Italcementi S.p.A. A June 17 consent agreement calls for the sale of a) Essroc’s 2-million ton/year Martinsburg, W.V., mill plus seven Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia terminals; and, b) Lehigh’s Solvay, N.Y., terminal. A suitor will also have a purchase option for two Essroc terminals in Ohio.

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Commission report offers businesses guidance on limits of big data use

14 Big 150

The Federal Trade Commission has outlined a number of questions for businesses to consider in their use of big data analytics. “Big data’s role is growing in nearly every area of business, affecting millions of consumers in concrete ways,” says Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “The potential benefits to consumers are significant, but businesses must ensure that their big data use does not lead to harmful exclusion or discrimination.”

 
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Teachable moments, cautionary tales from FTC Lafarge, Holcim review file

Last month’s merger forming LafargeHolcim Ltd. expedited transfer of more than $1 billion in cement, concrete and aggregate production and distribution assets in the U.S. and Canada. The Federal Trade Commission justified a decision and order on the sale of those properties per Section 7 of the Clayton Act, a century-old law augmenting the Sherman Act of 1890. It prohibits mergers if “in any line of commerce or in any activity affecting commerce in any section of the country, the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly,” FTC notes.

 
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Regulators exact deep concessions in Lafarge, Holcim merger reviews

Federal Trade Commission and Canadian Competition Bureau (CCB) have outlined consent agreements approving the scope or direction of Lafarge North America, Holcim (US) Inc. and Holcim (Canada) Inc. operations following the Lafarge S.A. and Holcim Ltd. merger. The mega-deal is set to close in July as an exchange offer commences this month: 10 Lafarge shares for nine Holcim shares, netting LafargeHolcim.

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