M&A Hot Topics Pt. 1 - Biden's New Executive Order and Recent Trends from DOJ and FTC

On July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order ("Order") and a supporting Fact Sheet announcing 72 initiatives to increase vigorous antitrust enforcement. The Order sets competition-law priorities for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and more than a dozen other federal agencies coordinated through a new White House Competition Council.  The Executive Order, aimed at promoting competition, strongly encourages coordination among the agencies to tackle these objectives in both enforcement and policy development, pointing to key industries.

Panelists Matthew Bester, Director of Competition Law at Accenture, and Baker McKenzie attorneys Darcy Down and Creighton Macywill discuss the Executive Order as well as other recent trends from the DOJ and FTC with respect to merger enforcement. And, importantly, cover what these developments mean for M&A.