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By: Rachel Brass, Mark Director, Sophie Hansell, Cynthia Richman, Dan Swanson, Chris Wilson, Jamie France, and Zo Hutchinson | Gibson Dunn

On September 21, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission, delivering on recent agency promises to increase scrutiny of private equity-backed transactions and strategies, released a complaint filed against private equity sponsor Welsh, Carson, Anderson, and Stowe and U.S. Anesthesia Partners, a Texas-based provider of anesthesia services and Welsh Carson portfolio company. With this slate of claims, the FTC takes aim at Welsh Carson and USAP's serial acquisitions over a decade, post-merger conduct, and the "roll-up" strategy employed by USAP and Welsh Carson.

The complaint alleges numerous violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, asserting defendants monopolized, conspired to monopolize, and entered into agreements to fix prices and allocate markets with respect to commercially insured hospital-only anesthesiology services. The complaint also claims defendants violated Clayton Act Section 7 and Section 5 of the FTC Act through a string of serial acquisitions which allegedly lessened competition in Texas. The complaint asserts that defendants' "roll-up" strategy represented an "unfair method of competition." Finally, the complaint alleges that Welsh Carson's acquisitions, pricing actions, and horizontal agreements together represent a "scheme to reduce competition in Texas" und......................

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