- Despite a record-setting year for M&A, 2015 has also been full of plenty of no's from U.S. antitrust officials:
- Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) agreed to buy its rival Office Depot (NYSE:ODP) in February for more than $6B, but regulators worried the tie-up would eliminate competition and sought to block the merger in December.
- Although General Electric (NYSE:GE) decided to sell its appliances business to Electrolux (OTCPK:ELUXY) for $3.3B in 2014, the Justice Department filed suit this summer, alleging the deal would result in higher kitchen appliance prices. GE walked away from the deal last month.
- Sysco (NYSE:SYY) reached its $3.5B deal for U.S. Foods in December 2013, hoping the combination would help it cut costs, however, the tie-up got shot down by the FTC in June.
- The nation's two biggest cable operators, Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (TWC), reached a $45.2B deal to combine in February 2014, although the DOJ said the merger would make Comcast "an unavoidable gatekeeper for Internet-based services." The latter canceled the deal in April.
- Thai Union (OTC:TUFRF), owner of the Chicken of the Sea brand, struck a $1.5B deal for U.S. rival Bumble Bee Seafoods in December 2014, but the companies walked away from the agreement a year later amid antitrust objections.