Companies outside the private equity industry that engage in anticompetitive rollup schemes to hike prices are just as likely to elicit scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission as PE firms, because the concern is about corporate behavior as opposed to the type of company, an FTC official said during a legal conference.
Companies outside the private equity industry that engage in anticompetitive rollup schemes to hike prices are just as likely to elicit scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission as PE firms, because the concern is about corporate behavior as opposed to the type of company, an FTC official said during a legal conference.*“Private equity tends to be where you get most systematic and documented examples of serial acquisitions, but to be clear, the theory extends well outside of the PE space,” said Jordan Andrew, acting assistant director within the FTC’s Mergers I division.
When the agency counters a rollup fact pattern, federal authorities will need to weigh evidence to decide whether to treat the case as a violation of anti-monopolization conduct rules, an infringement of merger antitrust law or a simultaneous breach of those two kinds of regulations, Andrew said.
“Obviously, it's a fact specific inquiry, but we'll be thinking about whether there's one firm or multiple firms doing the doing the rolling up, whether there's evidence of intent to consolidate the market and alleged post-merger market shares, among other things,” he said.
*American Bar Association Antitrust Spring Meeting 2026. Washington, DC. March 25-27, 2026.
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