[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 11 (Friday, January 16, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2423-2428]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-00666]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'' or ``FTC'').
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Commission plans to conduct a study to update and expand
on the divestiture study it conducted in the mid-1990s to assess the
effectiveness of the Commission's policies and practices regarding
remedial orders where the Commission has permitted a merger but
required a divestiture or other remedy, and identify the factors that
contributed to the Commission successfully or unsuccessfully achieving
the remedial goals of the orders. This is the first of two notices
required under the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') in which the
Commission seeks public comment on its proposed study before requesting
Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') review of, and clearance for,
the collection of information discussed herein.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 17, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Remedy Study, FTC File
No. P143100'' on your comment and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/hsr2014divestiturestudypra by following
the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your
comment on paper, write ``Remedy Study, FTC File No. P143100'' on your
comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20580,
or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th
Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel P. Ducore, Assistant Director,
202-326-2526, Compliance Division, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade
Commission, Washington, DC 20580, or Timothy Deyak, Associate Director,
202-326-3742, Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission,
Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Summary
The FTC, along with the Antitrust Division of the Department of
Justice, enforces the antitrust laws. Under this authority, the
Commission examines consummated and proposed transactions to determine
whether anticompetitive effects are likely because of the transaction.
Each year, the Commission challenges a number of transactions. Most of
those are resolved through a consent order providing a remedy to
address the competitive concern. In horizontal mergers, the Commission
typically requires a divestiture of assets to remedy the probable
anticompetitive effects of the transaction. In a study that began in
1995 and culminated with the publication of a report in August 1999,
the FTC's Bureau of Competition evaluated those divestitures the
Commission ordered from FY 1990 through FY 1994. The Commission refined
and improved its divestiture orders partly as a result of that study.
The Commission now proposes a new study to focus on more recent orders,
both divestiture orders that incorporated modifications based on the
prior study and orders that required remedies other than divestitures.
II. Background
In the mid-1990s, taking advantage of its unique research and study
function, the Commission authorized a study of Commission-ordered
divestitures. As part of that study, which was conducted by the Bureaus
of Competition and Economics, Commission staff interviewed thirty-seven
buyers out of the fifty that acquired assets under the thirty-five
orders the Commission issued from FY 1990 through FY 1994. The study
yielded valuable information. The FTC's Bureau of Competition
synthesized, summarized, and made available to the public the learning
gained from the interviews, in a report the Bureau of Competition
issued in August 1999. The report is available on the FTC's Web site at
http://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/merger-review/divestiture.pdf.
Based on the study, the Commission implemented several changes to
its divestiture process. First, it shortened the divestiture period
from a largely standard twelve months to six or fewer months. Second,
recognizing the risks posed by divestitures of assets that comprised
less than an on-going business, the Commission began more consistently
requiring up-front buyers in cases in which it allowed such a
divestiture. Third, the Commission began requiring monitors more
frequently, particularly in divestitures in technology and
pharmaceutical industries. These changes were implemented almost
immediately, and the Commission and its staff still rely on the
findings from the study as they craft and enforce the Commission's
remedies.
The FTC has not conducted a broad review of its divestitures since
the earlier study and the resulting modifications based on it.
Accordingly, the Commission now proposes a new study to focus on more
recent orders, many of which incorporated these modifications, and to
include some orders that did not require divestitures.
III. FTC's Proposed Study
A. Description of the Collection of Information and Proposed Use
Since the period covered by the prior remedy study through 2013,
the Commission issued 281 orders in merger cases. Of those, the
Commission proposes to study all ninety-two orders issued from 2006
through 2012. The Commission chose the latter period because it is not
so long ago that the parties are likely to have forgotten details, but
it is sufficiently long to assess whether divestiture orders created
new competitors and whether merger orders, including divestiture
orders, achieved their remedial goals.\1\ The industries covered in
this period are generally representative of those in the longer period
from 1995 through 2013.
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\1\ The purpose of this remedy study differs from the aims of
other more specific, in-depth merger retrospectives, such as those
examining hospital, petroleum, and grocery store mergers.
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The Commission proposes to use a similar case study method as was
used in the earlier study to evaluate the majority of the orders the
Commission issued during this period. Staff will employ this approach
on the fifty-three orders in which the Commission required a remedy in
a variety of markets ranging from fishing lines, pipelines, and
specialty metals to medical market research, pesticides, rock salt, and
chemical rust inhibitors. The Appendix lists the fifty-three orders in
chronological order based on the date first accepted by the Commission.
Of the fifty-three merger orders the Commission issued during this
period, forty-three orders required divestitures;
[[Page 2424]]
under those orders, the Commission approved divestitures to forty-seven
different buyers. The Commission proposes interviewing the forty-seven
buyers as well as, on average, two other competitors, including the
respondent, and, on average, two customers in each of the affected
markets. For the ten orders in which the Commission ordered only non-
structural relief, and where there are therefore no buyers, the
Commission proposes interviewing, on average, two competitors,
including the respondent, and, on average, two customers in each
market.
Although the FTC will seek voluntary interviews in the first
instance, it may rely on compulsory process where necessary to obtain
the information it needs for the study. The interviews will, to the
extent possible, be conducted by attorneys and economists who are
familiar with the order from their work during the time it was issued.
Each interviewer will use similar outlines for the interviews, focusing
broadly on the same topics. To the extent unique issues arise with
respect to particular divestitures, the interviewer will pursue those
issues as well.
Although the buyer interviews will be similar to those in the
earlier study, staff will focus on several specific issues, some of
which arose from the changes made based on the earlier study. Those
issues include:
Whether the increased use of buyers-up-front hindered the
buyer's ability to conduct adequate due diligence.
Whether shortening the divestiture period had any adverse
effect on the buyers and the process.
To what extent the staff's review of buyers and monitors
may have been inadequate.
Whether the orders have effectively defined the assets of
an autonomous business (when that was the purpose).
Whether assets outside of the relevant market have been
properly included in the divestiture package when necessary.
Whether Commission orders have effectively required
sufficient technical assistance or other nurturing provisions when
necessary.
Whether monitors have provided the oversight that the
Commission expected.
Whether the respondent impeded the buyer's ability to
compete in the market.
In addition to interviewing buyers, the Commission will also
interview customers and other competitors (including the respondent) in
each affected market. The additional interviews will be used (along
with the buyer interviews) to attempt to assess further whether the
Commission's orders achieved their remedial goals. These interviews
will address some additional points, and, where appropriate, will cover
some of the issues noted above. These additional points include:
Identifying the leading suppliers (and their market
shares) of the product before and after the remedy.
Whether the buyer competed in a manner that was as
effective as the previous owner of the divested assets.
Whether any other significant changes took place in the
market after the remedy was implemented (e.g., entry, exit, or other
merger).
The interviewee's views on how the merger would have
affected the competitive environment absent the remedy.
The interviewee's views about the market's competitiveness
before and after the acquisition and remedy.
All interviews will be conducted in a flexible manner, and certain
specific questions will be explored as particular cases, and interview
responses, indicate.
In addition to conducting interviews, the FTC will require
information from each buyer and significant competitor, including the
respondent, in each market by issuing orders to file special reports
under its authority in Section 6(b) of the Federal Trade Commission
Act. Information will be sought from as many as 280 participants. The
special reports will request very limited annual unit and dollar sales
data for the year the remedy took place, three years before the remedy,
and three years after it. These data will supplement and complement the
interview information for the assessment of whether the Commission's
orders achieved their remedial goals.\2\
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\2\ The Commission plans to ask recipients of the 6(b) report
request to provide their annual net sales in dollars and units of
the relevant product in the geographic market, for the calendar year
in which the remedy took place and for each of the three calendar
years before and after the remedy took place. If a company has
fiscal year dollar and unit sales figures that are not calendar year
sales, it will be asked to describe its fiscal year, provide the
data requested for the company's fiscal years closest to the
calendar years requested, to estimate the requested calendar year
dollar and unit sales, and to describe the basis upon which those
estimates were made. If the requested data are not available for the
product and the geographic market, the company will be asked to
estimate the dollar and unit sales data requested and to describe
the basis upon which its estimates were made.
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The Commission proposes to use a different method to evaluate
merger orders in certain other industries. The Commission has extensive
expertise in crafting remedies for mergers in certain industries,
including supermarkets, drug stores, funeral homes, hospitals and other
clinics, and pharmaceuticals. It has implemented remedies relating to
mergers in those industries using well-established methods and standard
provisions tailored to each industry.
Thus, for the fifteen orders the Commission issued from 2006
through 2012 in which the Commission required over forty divestitures
of supermarkets, drug stores, funeral homes, and hospitals and other
clinics, also listed in the Appendix, the Commission does not propose
interviewing all buyers. Instead, it proposes sending for voluntary
response brief questionnaires to those buyers asking focused, specific
questions that have arisen with respect to divestitures in those
industries. For example, if the divested assets comprised a combination
of assets of the acquiring party and of the acquired party, or if the
divested assets comprised less than all of one merging firm's assets in
the particular market, did either situation disadvantage the firm
buying the assets? Did allowing divestiture of a small subset of a
large network of assets disadvantage the buyer in relation to a large
respondent? Did asset deterioration issues arise in cases other than
the supermarket cases \3\ that might warrant up-front divestitures in
those other industries? Interviews with all buyers are not necessary
because repeated enforcement actions in each of these industries have
informed staff's approach to crafting subsequent orders. Once staff
receives responses to the questionnaires, it will determine, on a case-
by-case basis, whether follow-up phone calls with the buyers may be
necessary.
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\3\ The Commission has consistently required upfront buyers in
supermarket cases since it obtained civil penalties and additional
relief from Schnuck Markets, Inc., resulting from its failure to
adequately maintain supermarket assets pending their divestiture.
See FTC v. Schnuck Markets, Inc., No. 4:97CV01830CEJ (E.D. Mo. Sept.
16, 1997).
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For the twenty-four orders that the Commission issued from 2006
through 2012 requiring divestitures in the pharmaceutical industry,
staff will synthesize the information the Commission already has; the
Commission does not plan to interview the buyers of those divested
assets. The Bureau of Competition's Compliance Division maintains close
contact with the monitors appointed in the majority of these orders,
and the monitors and respondents file periodic reports as required by
the orders. As a result, staff has a great deal of information on the
status of the pharmaceutical divestitures, particularly with respect to
whether the buyers have obtained appropriate regulatory approvals and
[[Page 2425]]
whether the buyers have introduced the product(s). Rather than attempt
to interview all of these buyers, staff will collect the information it
has and contact the monitors for follow-up information if necessary.
Occasionally, follow-up phone calls with the buyers may be necessary;
however, staff will decide that on a case-by-case basis.
The Commission anticipates results from this study to be
instructive. Partly in response to the prior study's results, the
Commission immediately implemented various modifications to its
divestiture process, and it still relies on the learning from that
study's interviews to craft and enforce remedies today. The Commission
has not systematically evaluated the effects of those changes in
achieving the remedial goals of the orders and believes it is
appropriate to do so now.
B. PRA Burden Analysis
1. Estimated Hours Burden
a. Interviews and Questionnaires
As described above, one component of the proposed study concerns
fifty-three merger orders approving forty-seven buyers of divested
assets. Commission staff will attempt to interview the forty-seven
buyers as well as, on average, two customers and two competitors of
each buyer in each affected market. Ten of the fifty-three orders
required only non-structural relief, so there are no buyers for those
ten; the Commission proposes to interview, on average, two customers
and two competitors in each of those affected markets. In several of
the orders, the relief applies to more than one relevant geographic or
product market, even though there may be only one buyer of divested
assets (or no buyer in the orders requiring only non-structural
relief). In other words, although only one buyer acquired assets, those
assets enabled the one buyer to operate in more than one geographic
market and/or more than one product market; there are potentially
different customers and competitors of the one buyer in each of the
different markets. There are approximately ten additional such markets
in which there may be additional customers and competitors. Commission
staff estimates that there will be 315 interviews [(47 buyers) + (47 x
4 customers/competitors) + (10 non-structural remedies x 4 customers/
competitors) + (10 additional markets x 4 customers/competitors)].
Commission staff anticipates that for each interview, two people will
participate on behalf of the interviewee, and in many cases, an
attorney may also participate. The interview will last approximately an
hour to an hour-and-a-half. Commission staff estimates that an hour of
preparation time for each interviewee and three hours for the attorney
may be required. The estimated total time involved for three
participants in this part of the study will thus be 2,993 hours [315
interviews x (4.5 interview hours + 5 preparation time hours)].
As another component of the study, the Commission proposes sending
brief questionnaires to the approximately forty buyers of divested
assets under the fifteen orders issued from 2006 through 2012 requiring
divestiture of supermarkets, drug stores, funeral homes, and hospitals
and other clinics.\4\ Commission staff anticipates that it will take an
hour for the CEO or other top-level manager and two hours for a
marketing or sales manager to complete the questionnaire and then
approximately three hours for an attorney to review it. The estimated
total time involved for three participants in this part of the study
will thus be 240 hours [40 participants x 6 hours].
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\4\ FTC staff will give recipients of the questionnaires the
option of responding to the questionnaire via telephone interview
rather than responding in writing. Because the time and cost
involved under either option will be similar, for purposes of
estimating the burden, FTC staff has assumed written responses from
the recipients.
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b. Sales Data Component
As an additional component of this study, the FTC proposes
obtaining and analyzing sales data in order to assess the relative
health and success of divested entities approved in the fifty-three
orders, and, to the extent possible, whether the order achieved its
remedial goal. Specifically, the FTC will issue orders to file special
reports requesting annual sales data (in units and dollars) for all
significant competitors in each remedied market for the calendar year
of the remedy, for each of the three calendar years prior to the
remedy, and for each of the three calendar years following the remedy.
This data can be derived from the data that firms collect as a part of
their normal course of business, so for many, if not all, of the
companies the limited data requested will not pose significant burdens
for the relevant parties.
While the majority of these fifty-three remedied matters involve
only a single market, others implicate multiple geographic and product
markets. As a result, the FTC anticipates sending special reports to
market competitors in approximately seventy markets. A review of the
study sample further indicates that, on average, staff will send
special reports to four market competitors in each of the remedied
markets, resulting in 280 orders to file special reports [70 markets x
4 competitors/market].\5\ The Commission estimates that three people
will be involved in the response to each special report--a senior
finance executive, an accountant or financial analyst, and an
attorney--and that the total time involved in responding to each report
will be ten hours. Accordingly, the total amount of time involved for
the participants in this part of the study will be approximately 2,800
hours [280 special reports x 10 hours/report].
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\5\ The FTC will request data from all significant market
competitors, which will include those firms that are interviewed
(the buyer and, on average, two other competitors), but may include
additional firms as well.
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2. Estimated Cost Burden
a. Interviews and Questionnaires
The majority of costs incurred for each firm interviewed will be
labor costs. Commission staff anticipates minimal capital or other non-
labor costs. Staff also anticipates that top-level managers will
participate in each of the interviews, possibly the CEO or president
and a marketing or sales manager. In many cases, the firms will likely
request that the firm's attorney also participate. Based on external
wage data, the estimated hourly wages \6\ for the expected participants
are:
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\6\ Figures based on national median salaries, including bonuses
and benefits, divided by a 2,080 hour work year (52 weeks x 40
hours/week), for a ``Chief Executive Officer,'' ``Top Sales &
Marketing Executive,'' and ``Managing Attorney,'' respectively, at
www.salary.com.
CEO $655
Sales/Marketing Manager $215
Attorney $135
The interview will take approximately an hour-and-a-half; the
interviewees will spend approximately an hour to prepare, and the
attorney will spend three hours preparing and reviewing. If all three
individuals participate, for each firm total wages, rounded, will be
approximately $2,783 [($655 x 2.5) + ($215 x 2.5) + ($135 x 4.5)]. If
the FTC staff interviews 315 different entities, total labor cost will
be $878,645 [315 x $2,783].
Commission staff anticipates that to fill out the questionnaires,
respondents will incur primarily labor costs, with minimal capital or
other non-labor costs. Commission staff estimates that those labor
costs, to complete and review the questionnaire, will be broken down as
follows: one hour for the CEO, president, or other top-level manager;
two hours for a marketing or sales manager; and up to three hours for
an attorney to review the material. For each
[[Page 2426]]
firm, total wages will be $1,490 [$655 + ($215 x 2) + ($135 x 3)].
Staff anticipates obtaining completed questionnaires from the
approximately forty buyers, for an associated labor cost total of
$59,600 [40 x $1,490].
b. Sales Data Component
As was the case above, the majority of the costs incurred for
compliance with the special reports will be labor costs. The Commission
anticipates that a top-level financial manager, an accountant or
financial analyst, and an attorney will be involved in any discussions
relating to the special reports and in responding to the special
reports. Specifically, it is expected that each of these individuals
would be involved in a two-hour discussion with Commission staff prior
to compliance, and that the financial analyst would require four hours
to compile the data. Based on external wage data, the estimated hourly
wages for the expected participants are: \7\
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\7\ Figures based on national median salaries, including bonuses
and benefits, divided by a 2,080 hour work year (52 weeks x 40
hours/week), for a ``Financial Reporting Manager'' and ``Lead
Accountant,'' respectively, at www.salary.com. See also supra note 6
(attorney salary source data).
Financial Manager $75
Accountant $55
Attorney $135
Total wage costs for each special report will be $750 [($75 x 2) +
($135 x 2) + ($55 x 6)]. If the Commission issues 280 special reports,
the total cost of complying with compulsory process will be $210,000
[280 x $750].
IV. Confidentiality
Some of the information the Commission will receive in connection
with the study is information of a confidential nature. Under Section
6(f) of the FTC Act, such information is protected from public
disclosure for as long as it qualifies as a trade secret or
confidential commercial or financial information. 15 U.S.C. 46(f).
Material protected by Section 6(f) also would be exempt from disclosure
under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552. Moreover, under
Section 21(c) of the FTC Act, a submitter who designates information as
confidential is entitled to 10 days' advance notice of any anticipated
public disclosure by the Commission, assuming that the Commission has
determined that the information does not, in fact, constitute Section
6(f) material. 15 U.S.C. 57b-2(c). Although materials covered by these
sections are protected by stringent confidentiality constraints, the
FTC Act and the Commission's rules authorize disclosure in limited
circumstances (e.g., official requests by Congress, requests from other
agencies for law enforcement purposes, administrative or judicial
proceedings). Even in those limited contexts, however, the Commission's
rules may afford protections to the submitter, such as advance notice
to seek a protective order prior to disclosure in an administrative or
judicial proceeding. See 15 U.S.C. 57b-2(c); 16 CFR 4.9-4.11.
V. Request for Comment
Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, federal agencies must obtain
approval from OMB for each collection of information they conduct or
sponsor. ``Collection of information'' means agency requests or
requirements that members of the public submit reports, keep records,
or provide information to a third party. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3); 5 CFR
1320.3(c). As required by section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC is
providing this opportunity for public comment before requesting that
OMB approve the collection of information for the study.
Pursuant to Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC invites
comments on: (1) Whether participation in the study is necessary,
including whether the information will be practically useful; (2) the
accuracy of our burden estimates, including whether the methodology and
assumptions used are valid; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility,
and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of information.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before March 17, 2015.
Write ``Remedy Study, P143100'' on your comment. Your comment--
including your name and your state--will be placed on the public record
of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the public
Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a
matter of discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home
contact information from comments before placing them on the Commission
Web site.
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number,
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive health information, like medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which is . . . privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you must follow the procedure explained in
FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\8\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel grants your request in
accordance with the law and the public interest.
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\8\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/hsr2014divestiturestudypra, by following the instructions on the
web-based form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``Remedy Study, P143100''
on your comment and on the envelope, and mail it to the following
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20580,
or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th
Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20024. If
possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or
overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as
[[Page 2427]]
appropriate. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive
public comments that it receives on or before March 17, 2015. For
information on the Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses
permitted by the Privacy Act, see http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
Appendix
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Date first accepted by the
commission Docket No. Matter name
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Interviews
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1. 04/20/06.................... C 4164 Boston Scientific Corp/
Guidant Corp.
2. 07/07/06.................... C 4165 Hologic, Inc./Fischer
Imaging.
3. 07/18/06.................... C 4163 Linde/BOC.
4. 08/18/06.................... C 4173 EPCO/TEPPCO.
5. 10/03/06.................... C 4188 The Boeing Company/
Lockheed Martin Corp.
6. 10/17/06.................... C 4170 Thermo Electron/Fisher
Scientific.
7. 12/28/06.................... C 4181 General Dynamics OTS.
8. 01/25/07.................... C 4183 Kinder Morgan inc.
9. 08/09/07.................... C 4196 Jarden Corporation/K2,
Inc.
10. 09/15/07................... C 4202 Fresenius AG/American
Renal Association.
11. 10/09/07................... C 4201 Kyphon, Inc/Disc-o-
tech.
12. 10/26/07................... C 4210 Compagnie de Saint-
Gobain/Owens Corning.
13. 04/28/08................... C 4228 Talx Corporation.
14. 05/05/08................... C 4219 Agrium Inc./UAP Holding
Corporation.
15. 06/30/08................... C 4233 Carlyle Partners/JP
Morgan.
16. 07/10/08................... C 4231 Flow International
Corporation/Omax Corp.
17. 07/17/08................... C 4224 Pernod Ricard/V&S
Spirits.
18. 07/30/08................... C 4225 McCormick & Company/
Unilever Group.
19. 09/15/08................... C 4236 Fresenius SE/Daiichi
Sankyo.
20. 09/16/08................... C 4257 Reed Elsevier PLC/
ChoicePoint Inc.
21. 12/23/08................... C 4244 Inverness Medical
Innovations, Inc./
ACON.
22. 01/23/09................... C 4243 Dow Chemical/Rohm &
Haas.
23. 01/29/09................... C 4251 Getinge AB/Datascope
Corp.
24. 02/26/09................... C 4254 Lubrizol/Lockhart
Chemical.
25. 04/02/09................... C 4253 BASF/Ciba Specialty
Chemicals.
26. 09/25/09................... C 4273 K&S AG/Dow Chemical.
27. 11/24/09................... C 4274 Panasonic/Sanyo.
28. 01/27/10................... C 4283 Danaher Corp/MDS.
29. 02/26/10................... C 4301 PepsiCo Inc./Pepsi
Bottling.
30. 05/07/10................... D 9342 MDR (The Dun &
Bradstreet Corp)/QED.
31. 05/14/10................... C 4292 Varian, Inc./Agilent,
Inc.
32. 06/30/10................... C 4293 Pilot/Flying J.
33. 07/14/10................... C 4297 AEA Investors/
Wilh.Werhahn.
34. 07/16/10................... C 4300 Fidelity/LandAmerica.
35. 07/28/10................... C 4298 NuFarm/A.H. Marks
Holdings, Ltd.
36. 09/10/10................... C 4299 Airgas/Air Products and
Chemicals.
37. 09/27/10................... C 4305 Coca-Cola/Coca-Cola
Enterprise.
38. 10/11/10................... C 4307 Simon Property Group/
Prime Outlets.
39. 12/29/10................... C 4314 Keystone/Compagnie de
Saint-Gobain.
40. 05/26/11................... C 4328 Irving/Exxon Mobil.
41. 10/28/11................... C 4340 IMS Health/SDI Health.
42. 12/08/11................... C 4341 LabCorp/Orchid
Cellmark.
43. 01/11/12................... C 4346 Amerigas/ETP.
44. 02/29/12................... C 4349 Carpenter/HHEP-Latrobe.
45. 03/05/12................... C 4350 Western Digital/
Hitachi.
46. 04/26/12................... C 4368 CoStar/Loopnet.
47. 05/01/12................... C 4355 Kinder Morgan/El Paso.
48. 06/11/12................... C 4363 Johnson & Johnson/
Synthes.
49. 08/06/12................... C 4366 Renown Health/Reno
Heart Physicians.
50. 10/12/12................... C 4381 Magnesium Elektron.
51. 10/31/12................... C 4380 Corning, Inc.
52. 11/15/12................... C 4376 Hertz Global Holdings.
53. 11/26/12................... C 4377 Robert Bosch.
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Questionnaires
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supermarkets and drug stores
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. 06/04/07.................... C 4191 Rite Aid/Eckerd.
2. 06/05/07.................... D 9324 Whole Foods.
3. 11/27/07.................... C 4209 A&P/Pathmark.
4. 08/04/10.................... C 4295 Topps.
5. 06/15/12.................... C 4367 Giant/Safeway.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Funeral homes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. 11/22/06.................... C 4174 SCI/Alderwoods.
[[Page 2428]]
7. 11/24/09.................... C 4275 SCI/Palm.
8. 3/25/10..................... C 4284 SCI/Keystone.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hospitals and other clinics
------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. 03/30/06.................... C 4159 Fresenius AG.
10. 10/07/09................... D 9338 Carilion Clinic.
11. 11/25/10................... C 4309 Universal/PSI.
12. 07/21/11................... C 4339 Cardinal/Biotech.
13. 09/02/11................... C 4334 Davita/DSI.
14. 02/28/12................... C 4348 Fresenius AG.
15. 10/5/12.................... C 4372 Universal/Ascend.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-00666 Filed 1-15-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P