In the first major antitrust ruling under the second Trump Administration, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lost its bid to block the merger of medical technology firms Surmodics and GTCR. The FTC had argued that combining the top two suppliers of hydrophilic coatings would be presumptively illegal and challenged the parties' proposed remedy of selling assets to a third party, Integer. Regulators argued that the divestiture buyer would not be incentivized to sell to rivals.
Judge Jeffrey Cummings rejected the "structural presumption" of illegality and accepted the companies' "fix". Describing Integer as an "exceptionally well-qualified divestiture buyer," the Court found that the divestiture effectively replaced the lost competition. The ruling signals that courts remain open to behavioral and structural remedies to save deals, even when regulators are hostile to the transaction.
Source: JD Supra