DOJ Antitrust Chief Delrahim Pledges to Speed Merger Reviews

Department of Justice antitrust chief Makan Delrahim says he is not "unilaterally disarming" his division, but that he is taking a number of reforms to speed the merger review process. "Provided that the parties expeditiously cooperate and comply throughout the entire process, we will aim to resolve most investigations within six months of filing," he said. For comparison, in 2017, "significant" merger reviews took on average 10.8 months to resolve, he said. To cut that timeline to six months, Justice is inviting parties to meet early with its antitrust team. Delrahim enumerated multiple reforms, including publishing a sample voluntary request letter, to give the parties a sense of what key deal info DOJ needs. He also pushed for publishing a model timing agreement, a process for speeding the mechanism by which parties comply with info requests and DOJ analyzes the deal, and reforming those agreements, including fewer depositions. Delrahim indicated the reform door needs to swing both ways. He said DOJ would expect the following from merging parties: No more of what he called "privilege log gamesmanship," which he said is parties trying to game the process by withholding large numbers of documents as privileged, then dumping them on DOJ later in the process. 


DOJ Antitrust Chief Delrahim Pledges to Speed Merger Reviews Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim Delivers Remarks at the 2018 Global Antitrust Enforcement Symposium (DOJ) Antitrust Chief Vows to Cut Merger Review Time (WSJ)