The article reviews the use of conduct remedies in several recent mergers and then examines the benefits and costs of such remedies. The article concludes that the use of conduct remedies raises a number of serious issues, and it may be difficult or impossible to use these remedies as the basis for a competitively desirable relief. Thus, the antitrust authorities should make at most only a limited use of these remedies and should continue to prefer divestiture.
The article appeared in the Fall 2011 issue of The Threshold, a publication of the ABA Antitrust Section, Mergers and Acquisitions Committee. The article may be found here.