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

AMC wins U.S. antitrust approval to buy Carmike Cinemas with conditions. AMC Entertainment Holdings won U.S. antitrust approval with conditions to buy smaller competitor Carmike Cinemas Inc in a $1.2 billion deal that would create the biggest U.S. movie theater chain.  The U.S. Justice Department said it approved the deal on condition that AMC and Carmike divest theaters in 15 markets and take steps to ensure that National Cinemedia and Screenvision, the two companies that make and sell pre-show advertising entertainment, remain viable.  Kansas-based AMC, which is majority-owned by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group, has about 380 theaters, while Georgia-based Carmike has 276 theaters, according to their websites.

American Airlines wins $15 million in antitrust case against Sabre. American Airlines Group Inc won about $15.3 million in an antitrust lawsuit that accused airline booking service Sabre Corp of harming competition and charging grossly inflated booking fees.  The Manhattan federal jury awarded nearly $5.1 million, a fraction of the up to $73 million American Airlines was seeking at trial.  But the sum automatically will be tripled under federal antitrust law.

G.M.’s Venture in China Fined $29 Million Under Antimonopoly Law. General Motors’s main joint venture in China was fined $29 million on Friday on charges that it suppressed competition by enforcing minimum sales prices for dealers.  It is the latest in a string of penalties against non-Chinese auto brands under the country’s antimonopoly law.  Chinese regulators have punished companies in several industries, like milk and medical devices, under the 2008 law in what appears to be an effort to force down consumer prices.

Rite Aid to sell 865 stores to Fred’s. Rite Aid Corp said it would sell 865 stores to Fred’s Inc for $950 million to satisfy antitrust concerns over its proposed takeover by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.  Rite Aid and Walgreens were widely expected to divest stores in states where the combined company would have a particularly strong position.  Walgreens has 13,200 stores, nearly 60 percent of which are in the United States, while Rite Aid has 4,570 stores in the United States.  Walgreens said in October 2015 it would buy smaller peer Rite Aid for $9.4 billion to widen its U.S. footprint.

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

U.S. Files First Charges in Generic Drug Price-Fixing Probe.  The U.S. Department of Justice accused two former generic pharmaceutical executives on Wednesday of colluding with other generic manufacturers to fix prices, the first criminal charges stemming from a two-year investigation.  The executives, Jeffrey Glazer and Jason Malek, were charged in Philadelphia with conspiring to fix the prices of an antibiotic, doxycycline hyclate, and to split up the market for glyburide, a diabetes drug, the Justice Department said.  Their former employer, Heritage Pharmaceuticals, filed a lawsuit against them in August, saying in a complaint they were behind a “brazen theft” and “looted tens of millions of dollars from Heritage by misappropriating its business opportunities, fraudulently obtaining compensation for themselves, and embezzling its intellectual property.”

20 States Accuse Generic Drug Companies of Price Fixing.  A wide-ranging investigation into generic drug prices took its most significant turn yet on Thursday, as state attorneys general accused two industry leaders, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Mylan, and four smaller companies of engaging in brazen price-fixing schemes — and promised that more charges were coming.  A civil complaint filed by 20 states accuses the companies of conspiring to artificially inflate prices on an antibiotic and a diabetes drug, with executives coordinating through informal industry gatherings and personal calls and text messages.  Officials said the case was a small example of broader problems in the drug business.

Omnicom, Publicis get DoJ Subpoenas Over Video Production Practices.  Subsidiaries for advertising companies Omnicom Group and Publicis Groupe were subpoenaed by the U.S. Department of Justice, both companies said on Friday.  The Justice Department’s antitrust division has been investigating whether ad agencies had rigged bids to favor in-house production units.

U.S. Seeks to Undercut Aetna CEO’s Defense in Merger Fight.  The U.S. Justice Department sought to knock down arguments by Aetna Inc.’s chief executive that Medicare Advantage competes with government insurance programs, making Aetna’s proposed merger with Humana legal under antitrust law.  The Justice Department initiated a lawsuit to stop the merger in July.  Judge John Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will likely allow the deal to go forward if he agrees with Aetna that traditional Medicare, managed by the government, competes with Medicare Advantage, run by insurers.

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

E.U. Fines Three Banks About $520 Million for Interest Rate Collusion.  European antitrust regulators on Wednesday fined Crédit Agricole, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase a total of just over 485 million euros for colluding to fix benchmark interest rates tied to the euro.  The penalties, equivalent to about $520 million, came more than two years after the European authorities issued a statement of objections — a formal step in antitrust investigations — against the three banks.  The inquiry began in 2011.

On Antitrust, Trump Signals a Return to the Bush Years.  As self-styled populist Donald Trump prepares to take office, sector-shaping mergers in media and health care stand poised to remake huge swaths of the nation’s economy, prompting concern among Democrats and Republicans about how consumers may be affected.  Anthem is pursuing a $54 billion purchase of Cigna to create the nation’s largest health insurance company, Aetna is angling to acquire Humana for $37 billion, and AT&T hopes to complete an $85 billion deal to buy Time Warner – transactions that together would amount to 1 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.  Despite his populist rhetoric on the campaign trail, Trump’s appointments suggest he’ll pursue fewer protections for consumers.

Aetna CEO Defends Merger with Humana in Antitrust Trial.  Aetna’s chief executive denied on Friday that Aetna’s withdrawal from some Obamacare exchanges was in retaliation for government efforts to halt its merger with Humana, as he sought to convince a federal judge to approve the deal.  The U.S. Justice Department sued to stop the $34 billion tie-up in July, saying that it and another insurance mega merger, Anthem’s planned purchase of Cigna, would mean higher prices and worse service for many consumers.

Alaska Airlines Settles Lawsuit Against Virgin America Deal.  Alaska Airlines has removed its last major hurdle to buying Virgin America.  Alaska said Wednesday it agreed to settle a private antitrust lawsuit that threatened to hold up its $2.6 billion purchase of Virgin America.  The settlement came a day after the U.S. Justice Department approved the purchase, but only after Alaska agreed to scale back a partnership it has with American Airlines on some routes.

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

Trump Adds Antitrust Expert to Justice Transition Team.  A Republican antitrust veteran has been named to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team for the Justice Department, a choice that lawyers say signals a more hands-off approach to antitrust enforcement compared to Democratic President Barack Obama.  David Higbee, a partner at the law firm Hunton & Williams LLP, worked for President George W. Bush’s administration from 2001 to 2005, spending the last year in the Antitrust Division.  While Trump, who campaigned as a populist, has talked tough on media mergers such as AT&T Inc. buying Time Warner Inc., and singled out Amazon.com Inc. for antitrust scrutiny, Higbee’s naming heralds a return to a traditional Republican view of merger enforcement, lawyers said.

Deutsche Bank to Pay $60 Million to Settle U.S. Gold Price-Fixing Case.  Deutsche Bank AG has agreed to pay $60 million to settle private U.S. antitrust litigation by traders and other investors who accused the German bank of conspiring to manipulate gold prices at their expense.  The preliminary settlement was filed on Friday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and requires a judge’s approval.

Becton Dickinson Wins Reversal of $340 mln Syringe Award.  A federal appeals court on Friday threw out an antitrust verdict that ordered medical device maker Becton Dickinson and Co. to pay rival Retractable Technologies Inc. $340 million in damages over its marketing of safety syringes.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans called Retractable’s claim that Becton violated the Sherman Act by trying to monopolize the U.S. safety syringe market “infirm as a matter of law.”

U.S. Judge Throws Out Kodak, Fujifilm Aluminum Price-Fixing Cases.  A U.S. judge on Wednesday threw out the last vestiges of private litigation over alleged aluminum price-fixing, dismissing lawsuits by Eastman Kodak Co., Fujifilm Holdings Corp., Reynolds Consumer Products and three other plaintiffs.  U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan on Oct. 5 dismissed nationwide litigation in which purchasers accused Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., mining company Glencore Plc and others of conspiring from 2009 to 2012 to boost prices by reducing supply.  Judge Forrest later agreed that the other six plaintiffs were entitled to have their claims considered separately because they had filed their own lawsuits.  But she said those claims must also fail because there was no proof that the defendants engaged in anticompetitive conduct outside the aluminum warehouse services market.