Mergers and Acquisitions

At both the Antitrust Division and the FTC, David Balto was often involved in litigating antitrust merger cases, including the seminal Staples/Office Depot and Heinz/Beechnut mergers. In private practice, he has frequently been involved in all phases of merger analysis including agency review and private litigation. These matters include:

United States v. Nippon Sanso (1991);
United States v. United Tote (1992);
United States v. Sungard Data Systems, Inc. (2001);
United States v. UPM-Kymmene (2003);
In re Medical Device Arbitration (2004);
Reilly v. Media News (2007);
F.T.C. v. Western Refining (2007).

In addition, David Balto has provided advice and secured regulatory clearance for mergers in a wide variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, supermarkets, retailing, industrial products, and telecom devices.

Click here to read the "Ten Rules of Effective Public Interest Merger Advocacy" - David Balto, American Antitrust Institiute (October 11, 2013)

In numerous matters, we have led advocacy against proposed mergers being investigated by the Antitrust Division of the DOJ, the FTC and other agencies, including:

Service Corp. International/Stewart Enterprises
Verizon/SpectrumCo
Express Scripts/Medco
Flying J/Pilot
Broadcomm/Dune
Omnicare/PharMerica
ESS/Diebold
Allied/Waste Management
SCI/Alderwood
CSL/Talecris and Grifols/Talecris
Ticketmaster/Live Nation
United Healthcare/Sierra
Highmark/Independence Blue Cross
JBS/National Beef
Premium Standard/Smithfield
Teva Pharmaceutical/Barr Pharmaceuticals
Republic Services/Allied Waste Industries
XM/SIRIUS
Express Scripts/Wellpoint
Wal-Mart/Amigo
First Data/Concord
JNJ/Guidant
Boston Scientific/Guidant
Express Scripts/Caremark

Many of these cases were challenged or settled by the antitrust enforcement agencies.

Click here for a detailed list of our merger advocacy work.

Click here to learn when you should oppose a merger.