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US: Proposed US Foods merger is not bad for competition say lawyers

By  |  February 22, 2015

Lawyers for Sysco and US Foods, in a call with investors and media, said the Federal Trade Commission’s position is unfounded. “There is no national market,” said Richard Parker of Washington, D.C., law firm O’Melveny & Myers. “It’s mythology.”

Sysco’s lengthy attempt to buy US Foods for $3.5 billion was dealt a blow Thursday when the Federal Trade Commission, on a 3-2 vote, sought to block the deal along with 11 attorneys general.

The FTC claimed the takeover would violate antitrust laws by significantly reducing competition nationwide and in 32 local markets.

Sysco said regulators do not understand the market and that the merger would be good for competition.

“The 75 percent market share is too simplistic a view – there are many, many other factors that drive our margins down to the bone,” said Damian Didden, attorney with New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

 

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

 

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