Steptoe's antitrust team counsels clients at every stage of the merger review process: jurisdictional filing analyses, merger feasibility studies, remedies and structuring, and guiding transactions through enforcement agency investigations. In addition to representing parties to transactions, we also have a robust practice representing third parties to oppose proposed transactions that raise competitive concerns.
We appear before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and state attorneys general in the US, as well as before the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission (DG COMP) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK. In addition to the US, EC, and UK, we also secure clearances for transactions in many EU Member States, including France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and coordinate teams of local counsel in all countries with active merger control regimes, including China, Japan, South Korea, and Brazil, among others.
We represent clients in many industries including advertising, airline, chemicals, defense, electric utility and power generation, financial services, food production, insurance, Internet, IT, life sciences, maritime, pharmaceuticals, pipeline, railroad, retailing, telecommunications, travel distribution, and trucking, among others.
Representative Matters
Mergers, Acquisitions, & Joint Ventures
- Represented DISH in successfully challenging the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, forging a remedy to make DISH the fourth mobile carrier alongside T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon, and then successfully defending the merger as conditioned in antitrust litigation in two federal courts.
- Successfully advised Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc. and PSEG Power for antitrust and related regulatory approval issues in the proposed sale of its fossil generating fleet to PSEG’s generation competitors. This is one of the largest fossil fleets in the PJM regional market.
- Represented American Express Global Business Travel in the US and international antitrust review of its 2021 acquisitions of Egencia, the leading digital travel management platform, from Expedia Group, and of Ovation Travel Group, including Lawyers Travel. These acquisitions followed on the 2018 acquisition of Hogg Robinson Group, another leading global travel management company. *
- Represented BNSF Railway Company before the Surface Transportation Board in proceedings regarding the merger between Canadian Pacific Railway Limited and Kansas City Southern Railway.
- Successfully counseled and advised Cigna in connection with its acquisition of Express Scripts, a vertical transaction that the DOJ approved unconditionally. *
- Successfully overcame horizontal and vertical merger issues for Fresenius Medical Care to close the multibillion-dollar acquisition of the largest home hemodialysis equipment supplier, following an FTC Second Request investigation. *
- Provided creative transaction structuring advice that was critical in facilitating the $18 billion investment by SK Hynix in Toshiba’s NAND (flash memory) business. *
- Represented Entergy in connection with its acquisition of a power plant before the DOJ Antitrust Division. Successfully obtained clearance for the transaction following the DOJ’s Second Request investigation.
- Successfully represented an international machine tool manufacturer and technology services provider before the DOJ Antitrust Division in its acquisition of a competing machine tool manufacturer.
- Represented technology clients in successfully opposing Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner, which the parties ultimately abandoned.
*Matters handled at prior firm or company.
News & Publications
Publications
September 16, 2026
Media Mentions
Reuters Quotes Ronan Scanlan on the UK Government's Intervention in the Paramount-Warner Bros Deal
July 6, 2026
Publications
Emerging antitrust risks in the expanded use of AI
Compliance Week
December 16, 2025
By: Lee Berger, Robert Klotz
Publications
Merger Enforcement Under Trump: Enforcers Attempt to Balance Stability with Strategic Shifts
Federal Bar Association Antitrust Law Journal
August 19, 2025
Media Mentions
August 8, 2025
Press Releases
Steptoe Represents Amex GBT in DOJ Dismissal of Challenge to CWT Acquisition
July 30, 2025
Media Mentions
Global Competition Review Quotes Ronan Scanlan on Prosus/Just Eat Merger Review
June 26, 2025
Events
Webinars
The Steptoe Update: US, EU, and UK Legal Developments Affecting Asian Companies and Public Actors
December 11, 2024
Speakers: Lee Berger, Eric C. Emerson, Jack R. Hayes, Charles Whiddington
Webinars
The Intersection of Antitrust and Regulation
April 18, 2018
Speaker: Anthony J. LaRocca
Antitrust News & Briefs
Antitrust News & Briefs
FTC Revises Thresholds for HSR Filings and Interlocking Directorates
February 2, 2015