April Mason was quoted in the April 15, 2022, edition of the Birmingham Business Journal discussing the rise of regulatory scrutiny in merger and acquisition transactions as the market remains active.

“The atmosphere at the FTC and DOJ right now is high enforcement,” Mason said. In addition to some of the Biden administration’s appointments to the DOJ and FTC outwardly supporting increased regulation on M&A, Mason said deals that have already been approved face additional scrutiny.

“Last year, they started issuing letters to some merging parties that said ‘we know that your 30-day waiting period is expiring, so although under the law you can close, we want to let you know that we’re still investigation your transaction,” she said.

To proactively address these potential hiccups in a deal, Mason said companies are now considering what position regulators are likely to take on deals before they occur, and they are also taking precautions not to share competitively sensitive information between two merging parties before deals take place. “Merging parties are bringing in their antitrust counsel very early,” she said.

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