DOJ Adds Section 1 Claim in M&A Context
Freshfields – On June 29, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division challenged Booz Allen Hamilton’s $440 million dollar acquisition of EverWatch, alleging that, as the only two viable suppliers of “signal intelligence” services to the National Security Agency, the transaction not only would result in harm to competition for the services post-close, but also that the mere entry into the transaction agreement caused the parties to reduce the intensity with which they were competing for an upcoming NSA contract for signal intelligence services, even before the transaction closed. The District Court rejected DOJ’s challenge on October 11, and the parties closed the transaction on October 14. The case stands out for DOJ’s attempt to use Section 1 of the Sherman Act to challenge the alleged pre-closing competitive harm.