Whirlpool-Maytag
Reuters has this interesting “analysis” of the proposed Whirlpool-Maytag acquisition.
Whirlpool Corp.’s plan to buy rival Maytag Corp. is a key test of the Justice Department’s new antitrust chief and could provide a glimpse of how tough he will be in reviewing mergers, antitrust experts say. Thomas Barnett has until March 30 to decide whether to file a lawsuit to block the $1.7 billion deal, which would leave Whirlpool with a commanding share of the U.S. market for laundry machines. Staff lawyers at the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division have already expressed opposition to the merger as it would leave Whirlpool with such a large share of the market for washing machines and dryers — about two-thirds some estimate. Critics charge that the business-friendly Bush administration has been lax on antitrust enforcement, but the courts have also been pro-merger in two recent major cases when U.S. antitrust authorities tried to block combinations of companies with large market shares.
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