Information sharing between merging parties is a crucial part of pre-merger due diligence, yet courts have rarely weighed in to clarify when, if ever, such information exchanges run afoul of the antitrust laws. On January 10, 2011, a federal appeals court spoke for the first time on the topic. In Omnicare, Inc. v. UnitedHealth Group, Inc., No. 09-1152, a three-judge panel on the Seventh Circuit found that two merging health insurance companies had not violated antitrust and consumer-protection laws by sharing “generalized and averaged high-level pricing data” before consummation of the merger.
The dispute arose out of contracts between the institutional pharmacy, Omnicare, and two health ins [...]
