Ex-FTC commissioner accuses former chair Lina Khan of ‘procedural shenanigans’ that iced M&A activity

• CEOs are waiting to see how the Federal Trade Commission Under President Trump, will differ from the Biden administration, and so far, the lighter application that companies hoped were not materialized. The FTC is currently pursuing Meta in an antitrust case, which could see the giant of the social media broke. Meanwhile, President Andrew Ferguson said the agency take on The stricter fusion frame of the FTC established under Biden, highlighting the need for stability.

Former Federal Commerce Commissioner, Christine Wilson, broadcasts more from her opinions on the former president of the Lina Khan commission. In remarks last week, Wilson said she thought Khan had taken a interventionist approachUsing procedural mechanisms that have potentially slowed down or blocked more mergers. It was Wilson's last salvo after she resigned Of the FTC in 2023, saying that Khan “despised and sidelined” of the employees of the FTC and presided over a drop in application measures.

“President Khan really believed that all mergers were bad,” said Wilsonnow partner of the Freshfields law firm. “She used what I only call procedural shenanigans – generally using each procedural lever available to cool the activity of mergers and acquisitions.”

Wilson interviewed the FTC commissioner, Melissa Holyo, at the Berkeley Spring Forum on mergers and acquisitions And the conference room in San Francisco last week. Holyoak was asked how the FTC under the current administration would differentiate from the last. One of the FTCs rolesWith the Ministry of Justice, must examine the acquisitions and proposed mergers which have an impact on American trade and are valued at more than $ 101 million for antitrust problems. The administration of President Trump should be more respectful of business in the field of transmission and mergers and acquisitions, but CEOs and startups are still waiting to see how FTC movements newly organized in the coming months and what it means for growth, acquisitions and overall appetite for transactions.

Wilson asked Holyoak if there were practices, the previously organized FTC is committed “particularly blatant” and if companies could “trust that the Trump administration was going to play straight and examine cases on the merits”.

Holyoak took a different tone in his response and identified a “lack of communication” and a lack of transparency between the FTC and the companies, but said that it was a priority to bring this back in the process of examining the merger.

Khan did not make a request for comments, but a former FTC official who served under Khan said: “The accusation of Commissioner Wilson is shocking from reality.”

THE Wall Street Journal reported What the Dealmakers always get used to the new FTC and expect lighter signs on the approach of the president of the FTC, Andrew Ferguson. He clarified in February note that the FTC and the doj 2023 joint merger directives were indeed the framework which would guide the analysis of the merger of the agency, hope that the FTC could loosen the reins of the frame of the Biden era. Ferguson told an audience filled with leaders this month that he does not think that US companies should return to the “open season” for mergers and acquisitions, the Wsj reported.

Meanwhile, the chief of the antitrust division of the DoJ, Gail Slater, also expressed his concerns concerning the environment of the agreement, the Financial time reported. Slater previously expressed his concerns about too much concentration in certain industries and said that the application should be based on a direct financial impact on Americans.

In addition, CEOs and managers remain worried that Trump could lead the antitrust cases so that create greater uncertainty, pouring more cold water on the operating environment of mergers and acquisitions. He contrasts with the FTC of the former president Lina Khan, the FT reported, which was more predictable.

February has marked the first time in more than two years that no agreement worth more than $ 10 billion had been announced worldwide. This overturned in March with the 32 billion dollars of Google to buy WIZ, but April has so far been quieter.

Of the year to date, the number of transactions is down 19%, according to the Wsj.

This story was initially presented on Fortune.com