FTC, DOJ FY2025 HSR Report Details Shifting Merger Enforcement Trends
In-house M&A and antitrust counsel must review the report to align transaction planning and risk mitigation with current agency enforcement priorities and procedural trends.
The FTC and DOJ have published their FY2025 HSR annual report, outlining key merger enforcement trends from the prior fiscal year. The agencies opened 41 Second Request investigations and contested 18 transactions, both figures down from FY2024. Agriculture, food, housing, electricity, and healthcare remain identified enforcement priorities. Consent orders and decrees have re-emerged as a viable pathway to closing transactions with negotiated remedies, while the trend of large deals exceeding $1 billion in value continued. Early Termination, reintroduced in February 2025, was granted for 29% of requests, a year-over-year increase but still well below the 70%+ pre-FY2021 grant rate.