Dechert D.C.-based partners Paul T. Denis and James A. Fishkin are providing antitrust counsel to Albertsons in its proposed merger with Safeway that was announced today. The transaction values Safeway at over $9 billion.
Denis and Fishkin led the Dechert team that secured unconditional Federal Trade Commission clearance last year for Office Max’s $2.5 billion merger of equals with Office Depot. They and their Dechert colleagues also successfully defended Whole Foods Market in the last FTC litigated challenge to a merger in the retail grocery industry and secured unconditional clearance for the Monster/HotJobs merger after an earlier iteration of the same deal was abandoned in the face of significant FTC scrutiny.
Denis has broad merger experience. In addition to the OfficeMax transaction last year, he led the Dechert teams advising US Airways on the antitrust aspects of its pending $14 billion merger with American Airlines and Dean Foods in its $1.45 billion sale of Morningstar Foods division to Saputo. He also helped lead a Dechert team that served as antitrust counsel to Medco Health Solutions in its $29.1 billion merger with Express Scripts Inc., the largest merger of 2012, and has secured antitrust clearance for a number of other high-profile deals.
Fishkin, a 15-year veteran of the FTC, has been involved in scores of mergers in the retail grocery industry. In addition, while at the Commission, he led the investigation of the Staples-Office Depot merger during his tenure there and was part of the FTC litigation team that won a preliminary injunction to block that deal in 1997.
Joining Denis and Fishkin on the Dechert team are associates Craig G. Falls and Rani A. Habash.
