To put an end to the question “will the judge block the merger” here is what the law says

To put an end to the question “will the judge block the merger” here is what the law says:

“Federal law requires a judge to sign off on antitrust approvals, but it is often a formality. Deals typically close before this sign-off, given prior approval from the Department of Justice. While Mr. Leon can't block CVS' takeover of Aetna, he can question whether the Justice Department's review should have been broader, according to the report.”

End of discussion.

Think about it, would the SEC allow Aetna shares to be canceled if there was even a minute chance of the merger being blocked bu a judge once it’s cleared by the DOJ? How would you undo that?

How about the people who bought the billions in bonds? Would they have bought if they was the slightest chance merger would be blocked? Once again what do you do with the bonds?

The SEC knows the law, once DOJ approves the judge is bond by federal law to approve the deal. He can change the conditions but cannot block. Know what the law says before you make a comment.

Bumped this from @Z8xmFMM-1nqa

Comment! It's anonymous!

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Agree with the comments that this may drag on in the courts for a while. I’m especially skeptical that the AMA is petitioning to testify at the hearing against the deal. No doubt they are trying to protect their own self interest in the name of “public good”.

They would probably say that CVS will try to force Aetna members to use Minute Clinics instead of going to the doctor’s office. One of the restrictions I see that may be imposed is that Aetna members be prohibited from using Minute Clinics. A restriction like this obviously will not stand good with cvs, so a long court fight fight may ensue.

Or it may be judge Leon is just postering and try to “teach” the DOJ and other companies not to take him lightly in future deals. Perhaps he likes to see his name in the press, who knows but this is beginning to look like a circus.

This will end up in the appeals court, which will delay the merger even further! No way Judge Leon goes THIS far and just approves without adding conditions. Cvs/DOJ will no doubt appeal any conditions Judge Leon attaches, as they really think the original deal they made is fine. And this will drag on in appeals for some time, costing cvs more millions in legal fees!

Personally unless Judge Leon does an about face and just approves the merger settlement, this will get ugly real fast! If he says no to the deal made by cvs and he DOJ, and makes them negotiate a new settlement, cvs and the gov’t will both appeal his decision, and this will drag on in the courts till at least 2020, maybe 2021! Judge Leon was annoyed that the doj appealed his last merger decision, if he says no deal and they appeal, oh boy!

No matter what stipulations Judge Leon places on merger, CVS will do whatever they want anyway. Come on this company breaks the law on a daily basis without any concern. If, and often due get caught, corporate has no shame. In fact are prepared, reserved funds in place. Being

penalized, caught, is always anticipated, matter of if and when. Financially they seem to come out ahead.

“‘Wrong. Leon himself has said he can “unwind” this should he see fit. Why schedule multiple hearings if it’s just a formality? “

The person who made this comment has absolutely no clue what’s going or what the law is.

Read all the press releases and the news articles carefully. They all state that the “settlement” is under review. What the judge can do is make DOJ and CVS do another settlement with different terms, what he cannot do is block the merger entirely.

What may the new settlement require? It could be more divestures by CVS or Aetna, separation of business units, restrictions, etc. Once the judge is satisfied all antitrust concerns are addressed then he can sign off on the deal. As far as the merger goes, he has no authority or the power to block it once the DOJ approves. The judge’s jurisdiction is in the terms of the settlement, not the merger.

READ the news reports carefully.

“lFirst off yes, Judge Leon HAS said he can “unwind” he merger should he see fit. ”

The judge cannot unwind the merger, he can unwind the “settlement” between cvs and DOJ but not the merger itself.

Take a look at the Cigna Express Scripts deal. Very similar deal but there was no judge involved in that merger. So why does the cvs-aetna deal needs a judge to sign off when cigna-express scripts did not?

The difference is that the DOJ did not object to any parts of the cigna-express scripts deal, hence there was no “settlement” so no judical review was required and no judge was involved.

In the cvs-aetna case the DOJ did object to parts of the deal, so the “settlement” was that aetna sell off it’s med part d business. This is the difference between the 2 deals.

If there is a settlement with the DOJ, a judge must review that the settlement is sufficient to address the antitrust concerns. This is what is being reviewed, not the merger. Is the settlement sufficient?

By unwinding the deal the judge is sending this back to the DOJ and cvs to renegotiate another settlement to his satisfaction. “Unwinding” does not mean unwinding the merger, it means unwinding the settlement and that again.

Look up the Cigna Express scripts deal and why that didn’t require a judge to sign off and cvs aetna deal does.

In no way can the judge undo the merger, he is trying to undo the settlement. This is a BIG difference in case you don’t understand fully what the law says.

First off yes, Judge Leon HAS said he can “unwind” he merger should he see fit. He said it at the very first court hearing. Whether or not he has the official authority to actually do that remains to be seen. He says yes, and there are those that say no he can’t do that. Clearly a line has been drawn in the sand, with cvs aetna and the DOJ on one side and Judge Leon on the other. Except right now Judge Leon is the one driving the car! Basically we have a good old fashioned stare down going on and it’ll be interesting to see who blinks first. Perhaps had Cvs just apologized to Judge Leon right from the beginning and humbled themselves before him, the merger would’ve been approved by him long ago. Except in typical cvs fashion they took an arrogant stance before him, basically saying we’re right your wrong just approve the merger.

In regards to the poster who said Judge Leon has an ax to grind with the DOJ, over the AT&T/Time Warner merger, that IS true. And the cvs legal team SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS RIGHT FROM THE START!! And been better prepared for some blowback from Judge Leon because of this. Clearly they were not! And here we are... FYI, after this next June 3rd court hearing, judge Leon said there will be at least one additional hearing beyond this. And who knows how many more?

It is commonplace for people to comment here with absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Rumors and lies are frequent

He can cause to be in appeals for quiet some time thus cost CVS millions in legal fees and cause loss of savings for all of the “synergies“ they claim the merger would have. Whether this goes through or not the judge is making CVS executive’s lives miserable and I personally love it

Wrong. Leon himself has said he can “unwind” this should he see fit. Why schedule multiple hearings if it’s just a formality? It’s not over until he approves. The brilliant legal team at CVS has botched this and now Judge Leon is in the drivers seat. We may see something never seen before.

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To put an end to the question “will the judge block the merger” here is what the law says

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