The parties abandoned this merger shortly after the FTC’s preliminary injunction was granted.
Retained by the Federal Trade Commission
In July 2023, the FTC sued to block the merger of IQVIA and Propel Media (DeepIntent), two companies working at the intersection of pharmaceutical marketing and technology. The FTC filed a complaint in the Southern District of New York seeking a preliminary injunction.
The FTC retained Kostis Hatzitaskos of Cornerstone Research as its economic expert to analyze the competitive effects of the proposed merger. Dr. Hatzitaskos testified in the preliminary injunction hearing as to the horizontal and vertical effects of the proposed merger.
The court’s opinion noted “As Dr. Hatzitaskos put it… ‘the proof is in the pudding.’”
In late December 2023, the judge granted the FTC’s preliminary injunction, finding that the FTC had met its burden with respect to the horizontal allegation. The court’s opinion relied on Dr. Hatzitaskos’s testimony in several key areas:
- Relevant market. “The Court ultimately finds Dr. Hatzitaskos’s analysis of the market to be more consistent with the weight of the testimony and documentary evidence.”
- Competitive effects. “All told, the Court largely finds Dr. Hatzitaskos’s analysis of the merger’s anticompetitive effects to be persuasive. That conclusion is reinforced by the fact that his findings are broadly consistent with the documentary evidence and witness testimony.”
- Ease of entry. “As Dr. Hatzitaskos put it: ‘[I]f we see [some of these players] making only a tiny fraction of the revenues of the merging parties, and some of them have been in the market since 2019 or early on, that means that they are lacking in capabilities, sort of the proof is in the pudding.’”
The parties abandoned the merger shortly after the FTC’s preliminary injunction was granted.
Chicago
