The Antitrust Week in Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.

Clinton Questions Plans for Health Insurers to Merge.  Hillary Clinton is indicating the antitrust approach a new Clinton administration may take with her recent comments that two major health insurers preparing multibillion dollar acquisitions could tip “the balance of power” too far away from consumers.  The Democratic presidential candidate has said she has “serious concerns” with the proposed acquisition of Cigna by Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer Anthem, and plans by Aetna to acquire Medicare Advantage coverage provider Humana.

FedEx, TNT say no EU antitrust objections to $5 billion merger.  EU antitrust regulators have no objections to FedEx’s 4.4 billion euro ($5 billion) acquisition of Dutch peer TNT Express, according to the companies.  With a European market share of 17 percent, the combined company would be Europe’s second-largest delivery services business, behind Deutsche Post’s DHL but ahead of UPS.  The deal would also strengthen FedEx’s position as the world’s No.3 player.

Electrolux offers to settle U.S. antitrust fight over appliance deal.  The U.S. Department of Justice is reacting negatively to an offer by AB Electrolux to settle its fight with the Justice Department over whether it will be allowed to buy General Electric’s appliance business.  Electrolux claims it is working with third parties who may be interested in buying divested assets.  While the Justice Department did not reject the settlement, a government lawyer indicated the parties were far apart, stating “We’re on Earth and they’re on Mars.”

Yahoo to Team Up With Google in Internet Search, Advertising.  Yahoo hopes to lean on Google’s expertise in Internet search and advertising in an attempt to boost its revenue.  Yahoo’s proposed three-year partnership with Google must still be approved by antitrust regulators.  Although Yahoo tried to team up with Google in 2008 as part of its defense against a takeover attempt by Microsoft, that deal unraveled after the U.S. Justice Department threatened to block the partnership on the grounds that it would thwart competition.