The Antitrust Week In Review

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

Bayer Offers to Buy Monsanto in Global Agrochemicals Shakeout.  German drugs and chemicals group Bayer has made an unsolicited takeover proposal to U.S. seeds company Monsanto, seeking to create the world’s biggest agricultural supplier and take advantage of converging pesticides and seeds markets.  Monsanto disclosed the approach on Wednesday before Bayer confirmed its move, though neither released proposed terms.  The $42 billion market capitalization of Monsanto means that the deal would be likely to eclipse ChemChina’s planned acquisition of Swiss agrichemicals company Syngenta – a target Monsanto itself pursued last year – and could face U.S. antitrust hurdles.

Ill-Fated Strategy in Staples-Office Depot Deal.  A federal judge’s order ending the planned merger of Staples and Office Depot took many in the antitrust community by surprise, but only slightly more so than the decision of the lead defense lawyer to rest without presenting evidence.  That unsuccessful strategy came as the vigor in federal merger enforcement had apparently been revived, and even exaggerated, even though this deal was in so many other ways big and audacious.  The ruling ending the merger was released on Tuesday, and it strongly endorses competition and antitrust.

2nd Circuit Rejects Antitrust Case Over Acorda Citizen Petition.  A federal appeals court tossed an antitrust lawsuit by generic drug maker Apotex Inc accusing Acorda Therapeutics of filing a citizen petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in order to suppress competition for its muscle relaxant drug Zanaflex.   A unanimous panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that the fact that the FDA had granted Apotex’s application to make a generic version of Zanaflex capsules the same day it denied Acorda’s citizen petition opposing the application did not create an inference that Acorda’s petition had delayed approval.