BILL BLUMENTHAL, a former General Counsel of the Federal Trade Commission, advises clients across a range of industries on all aspects of antitrust law, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, horizontal and vertical restraints, monopolization, predatory pricing and distribution agreements. He also counsels on consumer protection issues such as privacy, identity theft, financial practices, and advertising and marketing practices.
Representative matters have included advising:
- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in connection with antitrust and foreign investment clearances for its acquisition of the treaty reinsurance business of Willis Towers Watson.
- Regal Beloit in connection with antitrust and foreign investment clearances for its acquisition of the process and motion control business of Rexnord.
- MTS Systems in connection with antitrust and foreign investment clearances for the company’s acquisition by Amphenol.
- Omnicell in connection with antitrust clearances for its acquisitions of ReCept, FDS Amplicare, and other companies.
- NiSource in connection with antitrust clearances for the sale of its subsidiary Columbia Gas of Massachusetts to Eversource Energy.
- Ryan Specialty Group in connection with antitrust clearances for its acquisition of All Risks Ltd.
- KapStone Paper and Packaging in connection with antitrust clearances for the company’s acquisition by WestRock.
- Pandora Media in connection with antitrust clearances for the sale of its Ticketfly subsidiary to Eventbrite, for an investment by SiriusXM in newly authorized shares, and for the subsequent merger of the company into Sirius XM.
- Jones Lang LaSalle in connection with antitrust clearances for the company’s acquisition of HFF.
- Diplomat Pharmacy in connection with antitrust clearances for the company’s acquisition by OptumRx, a unit within UnitedHealth Group.
- Western Union in connection with antitrust clearances for the sale of its Speedpay business to ACI Worldwide.
- CBOE Holdings in connection with antitrust clearances for its acquisition of Bats Global.
- Cabela’s in connection with antitrust clearances for the company’s acquisition by Bass Pro Group.
- Exelon in connection with antitrust clearances for its acquisition of a nuclear facility from Entergy and for its acquisition of an LNG facility from ENGIE.
- Coty Inc. in connection with a significant majority equity investment in Younique LLC, a social media-focused direct marketing cosmetics company.
- Multiple telecommunications companies in connection with regulatory clearances for merger and acquisition transactions.
- Multiple pharmaceutical companies on the settlement of intellectual property disputes with generic manufacturers.
- Multiple investment banks in connection with third-party subpoenas and civil investigative demands from government agencies investigating transactions to which the banks’ clients are parties.
- Multiple consumer products companies on government investigations of advertising claims and marketing practices.
In surveys conducted by Chambers, Global Competition Review, Who’s Who Legal, The Legal 500 and other organizations, Bill has been ranked over the years among the world’s foremost competition practitioners. Chambers has described him as “an ‘incredibly bright,’ ‘deep antitrust thinker’ with a great deal of experience in the area” and “very intricate, detailed, comprehensive knowledge” of government agencies. In Best Lawyers in America clients describe him as “among the best antitrust practitioners in the U.S.” and “a strategic thinker who understand issues in the U.S. and abroad.” Washingtonian magazine includes Bill as one of the region’s “best legal minds” in the area of Antitrust.