The Antitrust Week In Review

Anthem Inc. to buy Cigna Corp. for over $54 billion.  If approved by antitrust regulators, the deal would create the largest health insurer in the country, covering 53 million lives.  The acquisition closely follows Aetna’s announcement, at the beginning of the month, that it would buy Humana for $37 billion.  Health insurers are seeking to justify this latest wave of industry consolidation on the ground that consolidation will lower healthcare costs.  Antitrust regulators have said that they will closely scrutinize the industry’s consolidation, and look at the impact of all the deals together and not in isolation.

Teva to buy Allergan for over $40 billion.  Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has agreed to buy Allergan’s generic-drug business.  Allergan, known for its Botox anti-wrinkle treatment, became the third-largest generic-drug manufacturer when it acquired Actavis earlier this year.  The deal would enhance Teva’s position as the largest generic-drug manufacturer in the world, and is the latest and largest in a series of generic mergers within the past year.

Regulators approve AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV.  After more than a year reviewing the deal, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV on the conditions that AT&T implement certain protections for rival video providers and pledge to expand high-speed Internet to schools and low-income Americans.  The Department of Justice, which reviews the competitive impact of telecommunications mergers in conjunction with the FCC, also approved the deal and found no significant competitive concerns.  Under the FCC order approving the transaction, AT&T must count its own affiliated video services in any data caps for wired broadband and must disclose to the FCC all web-traffic-exchange agreements.