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Commission Seeks Public Comments on Carilion Clinic’s Application to Divest Center for Surgical Excellence to Fairlawn Surgery Center, LLC

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comments on a proposed divestiture by Carilion Clinic of Roanoke, Virginia. Under a December 2009 settlement with the FTC, Carilion must divest an imaging center and an outpatient surgical center in Roanoke to Commission-approved buyers to resolve charges that its acquisition of the two centers was illegal and anticompetitive. The goal of the settlement is to restore the competition lost through Carilion’s acquisition of the two clinics. Carilion has now requested FTC approval to sell one of the clinics – The Center for Surgical Excellence – to Fairlawn Surgery Center, LLC to satisfy, in part, its requirements under the settlement Order. Carilion still is required to divest the Center for Advanced Imaging.

The FTC is accepting public comments on the proposed divestiture through February 19, 2010. Comments should be sent to: FTC, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580. (FTC Docket No. C-9338; the staff contact is Roberta S. Baruch, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2861; see press release dated October 7, 2009, at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/carilion.shtm.)

FTC Approves The Dow Chemical Company’s Petition to Divest its Acrylic Acid and Latex Polymers Businesses to Arkema Inc.

Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved the petition of The Dow Chemical Company seeking approval to divest its acrylic acid monomers and latex polymers businesses to Arkema Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkema Group. Dow was required to divest these businesses to a Commission-approved acquirer under the terms of a Decision and Order issued in March 2009. The Decision and Order, issued with Dow’s consent, resolved competitive concerns raised by Dow’s merger with Rohm & Haas.

The assets Dow proposes to divest by sale or lease to Arkema include its interests in an acrylic acid monomers plant in Texas, and latex polymers plants in California, Louisiana, and Illinois. The FTC also has approved Dow’s request for a one-year extension of the deadline to sell to another acquirer the real property that surrounds the California latex polymers plant. The Decision and Order further requires Dow to divest its hollow sphere particle products business. Dow’s petition seeking approval to divest that business to Omnova Solutions, Inc., filed on September 24, 2009, remains pending.

The Commission vote approving the petition and the one-year extension of the divestiture timetable was 4-0. (FTC Docket No. C-4243; the staff contact is Roberta S. Baruch, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2861; see press release dated September January 23, 2009, at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/01/dow.shtm.)

FTC Approves Amended Complaint in Matter of JPM Accelerated Services, Inc.

The Federal Trade Commission has approved an amended complaint in the matter of JPM Accelerated Services, Inc. In November 2009, the agency charged JPM and several related companies and their principals with violating the FTC Act and the agency’s Do Not Call Rule by using thousands of pre-recorded “robocalls” in an attempt to sell consumers worthless credit card interest rate reduction programs. In the amended complaint, the FTC has added Paul Pietrzak, a manager of several of the corporate defendants, as an individual defendant.

The FTC vote authorizing the staff to file the amended complaint was 4-0. It was filed on January 19, 2010, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, and is available now on the FTC’s Web site and as a link to this press release. (FTC File No. 092-3190, Civ. No. 6:09-cv-02021-JA-KRS; the staff contact is Guy G. Ward, FTC Midwest Region, Chicago, 312-960-5612. See press release dated December 8, 2009, at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/12/robocall.shtm.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.

(FYI 5.2010.wpd)