Tue, Mar 19, 2024
A A A
Welcome Guest
Free Trial RSS pod
Get FREE trial access to our award winning publications
Alternative Market Briefing

Other Voices: Three things to know about the FTC's scrutiny of private equity roll-ups

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

By: Michael Dashefsky, R. Dale Grimes, Lucas Ross Smith - Bass, Berry & Sims

In a statement to Congress last week, Commissioner Rohit Chopra of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advocated for increased antitrust enforcement against private equity-backed "roll-up" acquisition strategies, especially acquisitions of physician practices and other healthcare providers. "Roll-ups" are a common strategy where an investor, such as a private equity firm, buys several companies operating in the same line of business and combines them into a larger organization that is better positioned to obtain a higher valuation due to economies of scale. Roll-up transactions are often valued under $94 million and thus are often not reportable under the HSR Act, a statute requiring the filing of pre-merger notifications to allow the FTC and Department of Justice (DOJ) to determine whether a transaction might violate the antitrust laws. Chopra claimed this lack of reporting allows private equity to "quietly increase market power and reduce competition" and urged the FTC to increase its focus on investigating non-reportable transactions.

Chopra expressed special concern about private equity involvement in the healthcare industry, specifically regarding acquisitions of specialist physician practices and providers of opioid treatment, hospice care, and air ambulance services. Said Chopra, "In addition to the risk of loss of competition, I am also troubled by other collateral consequences, such a......................

To view our full article Click here

Previous Opalesque Exclusives                                  
Previous Other Voices                                               
Access Alternative Market Briefing

 



  • Top Forwarded
  • Top Tracked
  • Top Searched
  1. KKR raises $6.4bn for the largest pan-Asia infrastructure fund[more]

    Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The New York-based global investment firm KKR has raised a record $6.4bn for its second Asia-focused infrastructure fund, underlining investors' continued appetite for private markets. According to a media release from the alternative assets manager, the figure top

  2. Bucking the trend, top hedge fund makes plans for a second SPAC[more]

    From Institutional Investor: SPACs aren't dead. At least not to the folks at Cormorant Asset Management. The life sciences firm, whose hedge fund topped its peers in 2023, is confident it will match the success of its first blank-check company. Last week, the life sciences and biopharma speciali

  3. Benefit Street Partners closes fifth fund on $4.7 billion[more]

    Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Benefit Street Partners has closed its fifth flagship direct lending vehicle, BSP Debt Fund V, with $4.7 billion of investable capital across the strategy. Benefit Street invests primarily in privately originated, floating rate, senior secured loans. The fun

  4. 4 hedge fund themes that are working in 2024[more]

    From The Street: A poor earnings report from Tesla (TSLA) has not hurt the indexes on Thursday. The decline in Tesla stock, which is losing its position in the Magnificent Seven pantheon, is more than offset by strong earnings from IBM (IBM) and ServiceNow (NOW) . In addition, the much higher-t

  5. Opalesque Exclusive: A global macro fund eyes opportunities in bonds[more]

    Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York for New Managers: Munich-based ThirdYear Capital rebounded in 2023, following a tough year for global macro. The firm's flagship ART Global Macro strategy finished the year up 1