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The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on an application by Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA to establish a new outpatient hemodialysis clinic.

The application is related to the FTC’s complaint and proposed order, announced on February 28, 2012, allowing Fresenius’s proposed acquisition of Liberty Dialysis Holdings, Inc. Under the proposed order, Fresenius was required to sell 60 dialysis clinics throughout the United States to ensure continued competition after the deal was completed. The order, which became final on May 25, 2012, also prohibited Fresenius from re-acquiring, without prior Commission approval, any interests in the clinics it had to divest.

Fresenius now intends to establish an outpatient hemodialysis clinic on a property it previously divested as a condition of its acquisition of Liberty. In its application seeking prior Commission approval of the plan, Fresenius states that: 1) the new clinic does not threaten, and will not cause, any potential reduction in competition; and 2) the establishment of the clinic is the most expeditious and efficient way for the company to introduce a new outpatient hemodialysis clinic needed by patients in the surrounding area.

The Commission will decide whether to approve Fresenius’s application following the expiration of a 30-day public comment period. Public comments may be submitted until November 7, 2017. Written comments should be sent to: FTC Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Comments can also be submitted electronically.

Copies of the application can be found on the FTC’s website. (The staff contact is Eric D. Rohlck, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2681)

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