Notification and Enforcement of Pe-Backed Consolidation

Private equity faces increasing scrutiny from antitrust authorities. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission sued a large financial sponsor and its portfolio company over a long series of acquisitions that allegedly consolidated Texas anesthesia markets and sharply raised prices. As the transactions span ten years, a natural question arises as to how they escaped enforcement for so long. Our answer is that the agency did not challenge the acquisitions in their incipiency because they were exempt