The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are working on new horizontal merger guidelines, which may be ready by the end of the year, that could include significant changes to the way regulators approach merger analysis.

The new rules governing mergers and the enforcement actions that FTC and DOJ are implementing, according to legal experts, create uncertainty among lawyers, and their clients, about how the substantial analysis in a merger will be carried out. Despite this uncertainty and other challenges, Gary Zanfagna, chair of the antitrust group at Paul Hastings, told PYMNTS in an interview that the important thing is to focus on what you are trying to get and put aside all the noise to get the deal through.

Companies will always try to get bigger, either organically or via mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and this is a natural and positive thing, Zanfagna argues. If they choose to do it via M&A, they may face challenges, from a business perspective and from a regulatory perspective. The latter, according to Zanfagna, is the one that is causing more uncertainty, and it is delaying some transactions, but companies need to be ready and deal with it.

Read the full article regarding this interview HERE.