The American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals joined 20 other organizations to urge the Federal Trade Commission to extend by 60 days the public comment period for its proposed changes to the premerger notification form and rules.
In a July 17 letter to FTC Secretary April Tabor, the organizations argued that the extension would provide adequate time to provide detailed responses on a proposal that could shape U.S. merger policy, business activity and capital markets.
"A typical year sees more than 2,000 mergers whose aggregate transaction value approaches $3 trillion. The proposal acknowledges that the new forms would almost quadruple average preparation time in each instance, imposing costs that 'would be significant and impose additional burden on some filing parties,'" the letter states. "The proposal solicits feedback on numerous specific ideas that touch upon complex questions of markets, labor, capital, regulatory costs and attorney-client privilege. Every question could, by itself, easily produce a highly substantive and lengthy response."
Key changes in the proposal include entities having to provide details about transaction rationale and surrounding investment vehicles; providing information related to products or services in horizontal products and services and non-horizontal business relationships, such as supply agreements; and providing projected revenue streams, transactional analyses and internal documents describing market conditions, and structure of entities involved such as private equity investments.