Canon Inc., Toshiba Corporation Agree to Pay $5 Million for Violating Federal Antitrust Laws

Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corporation have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the companies violated the premerger notification and waiting period requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, or HSR Act, when Canon acquired Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation from Toshiba in 2016.

Metadata

Provider:

FTC

URL:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/06/canon-inc-toshiba-corporation-agree-pay-5-million-violating

Retrieved on:

Monday, June 10, 2019

Information

Tags:

Companies, Economy, Mergers and acquisitions, United States antitrust law, 94th United States Congress, Hart–Scott–Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, Toshiba, HSR, Makan Delrahim, United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Federal Trade Commission, Ernst & Young

Summary

Key Points:

Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corporation have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the companies violated the premerger notification and waiting period requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, or HSR Act, when Canon acquired Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation from Toshiba in 2016.
According to the complaint, long-running financial irregularities at Toshiba became public in 2015 and, as a result, Toshiba was facing financial difficulty.
The HSR Act is an essential tool for antitrust enforcement because it allows federal antitrust enforcers to review proposed acquisitions for potential anticompetitive effects before they occur.
Canon and Toshiba structured their transaction for the purpose of avoiding the HSR Acts requirements, said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Departments Antitrust Division.