Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Oltrin Solutions Agrees to End Alleged Bulk Bleach Non-Compete Agreement with JCI Jones Chemicals, (Jan 21, 2013)

By Tobias J. Gillett, J.D., LLM.

Bleach producer and seller Oltrin Solutions, LLC has agreed to settle FTC charges that an agreement it made with a competitor, under which the competitor provided Oltrin with a list of its customers and agreed not to sell bleach in the area in which they competed for six years, violated federal antitrust law (In the Matter of Oltrin Solutions, LLC; JCI Jones Chemicals, Inc.; Olin Corp.; and Trinity Manufacturing, Inc., FTC File No. 111 0078, announced January 18, 2013).

Oltrin, a joint venture between Trinity Manufacturing, Inc. and TriOlin LLC, a subsidiary of Olin Corporation, the largest North American bleach producer, manufactures and sells bulk bleach primarily used to disinfect water through a plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. JCI Jones Chemicals, Inc. manufactures bleach and other water treatment chemicals throughout the United States, including, prior to the agreement with Oltrin, through a plant in Charlotte, North Carolina.

According to the FTC’s complaint, in March 2010 Oltrin and JCI entered into an agreement under which JCI would transfer a list of JCI’s customers in the relevant North Carolina and South Carolina market to Oltrin, and would agree to cease distributing bleach in that market for six years, in exchange for $5.5 million in compensation from Oltrin.

The FTC argued that this agreement eliminated competition between JCI and Oltrin in the relevant market, substantially increased the concentration of the market for bulk bleach in that region, and permitted Oltrin to raise bleach prices. The FTC claimed the agreement violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Under the proposed consent order, Oltrin will release JCI from the non-compete agreement. In addition, among other provisions, Oltrin will transfer contracts totaling at least one million gallons of bleach to JCI before the closing date of the order and enough additional contracts following the date to total two million gallons when combined with the previous transfers, and supply JCI with bleach for six months.

Oltrin must also notify all customers from whom it had received bid solicitations since the agreement between the companies of JCI’s reentry to the market, and the parties must notify the FTC of any future transactions between the parties in the bulk bleach market.

News: Antitrust FederalTradeCommissionNews