Over a year after the FTC and DOJ first announced changes to the premerger notification form and associated rules under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, the final rules were released in October 2024. Milbank LLP Litigation & Arbitration special counsel Daniel Rosenthal was featured on the ABA Antitrust Law Section podcast Our Curious Amalgam, where he discussed what these new HSR rules mean in practice for parties to transactions that must make an HSR filing. Mr. Rosenthal joined hosts Jaclyn Phillips and Matt Tabas to discuss the changes in detail, and how companies can start to prepare.
As anticipated, the new rule entails the most significant revamp of the HSR Form in the nearly 50-year history of the HSR Act, which has significant, long-term implications for all clients planning M&A going forward. Mr. Rosenthal notes that while it’s going to be a heavier lift to put together HSR filings when the new rule comes into effect in January, “the new filing guidelines will provide parties and their counsel with a reason to be perhaps a bit smarter about their deals and what they’re submitting to the agencies early, so what would have been a gathering process in the first 30 days after an HSR filing is made will now be done with the HSR filing.” He adds, “Now parties can really effectively focus on the rationale for transactions and how they’ll present that to agencies, and be better prepared to respond to questions early in the process and get a good result.”
Listen to “HSR You Kidding Me? Unpacking the New Requirements for Merging Parties in the U.S.”
Read Milbank Antitrust Group Insight “The New HSR Form Is Here.”
