FTCWatch’s March 30 story “Coronavirus raises new challenges for lawyers in and out of government” cites AAI’s March 24 statement on the COVID-19 crisis is cited and quotes AAI President Diana Moss on opportunistic deal-making.
From the article:
“The agencies should provide for stronger safeguards to ensure that any coordination among firms is pro-competitive, with demonstrable benefits to consumers and workers,” the American Antitrust Institute said in a statement. “The potential for violations by firms in highly concentrated markets and with histories of previous antitrust violations should be front and center on the government’s radar screen. The risk of lasting or permanent structural changes to healthcare and other industries also warrants close scrutiny.”
Diana Moss, AAI’s president, elaborated that the agencies’ guard must be up. “[W]ith looming bankruptcies and bailout requests, we might see opportunistic deal-making,” she wrote in an e-mail.
“The role of activist investors is particularly of concern, given past experience,” she continued. “Any federal response to the crisis should account for this possible dynamic, the additional uncertainty and disruption it could create, and the burden it will place on the enforcement infrastructure.”
