Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: FTC announces 2017 thresholds for Clayton Act antitrust reviews, (Jan 20, 2017)

By Linda O’Brien, J.D., LL.M.

The monetary thresholds that determine whether companies are required to notify federal antitrust authorities about a transaction under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act have been released by the FTC. The agency revises the thresholds annually based on the change in the gross national product.

For 2017, the size-of-transaction threshold for reporting proposed mergers and acquisitions under Section 7A of the Clayton Act will increase from $78.2 million to $80.8 million. The new 2017 thresholds under Section 8 of the Act that trigger prohibitions on certain interlocking memberships on corporate boards of directors are $32,914,000 for Section 8(a)(l ) and $3,291,400 for Section 8(a)(2)(A).

The revised thresholds under Section 7A of the Clayton Act will apply to all transactions that close on or after the effective date of the notice, which is 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register. The thresholds under Section 8 of the Clayton Act become effective upon publication in the Federal Register.

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