These big deals were nixed last year

These big deals were nixed last year

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BUSINESS RECORD STAFF | Jan 4, 2016 | 8:52 pm |

1 min read time

Last year was a record-setter for deal making with mergers and acquisitions exceeding $4 trillion, but a few fell apart under pressure from federal antitrust officials, Seeking Alpha reported.

These turned out to be not such big deals:

Staples agreed to buy its rival Office Depot in February for more than $6 billion, but regulators worried the tie-up would eliminate competition and sought to block the merger in December.
General Electric decided to sell its appliances business to Electrolux for $3.3 billion. The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit last summer, alleging the deal would result in higher kitchen appliance prices. General Electric decided to walk away from the agreement.
Sysco thought it had a deal to buy U.S. Foods for $3.5 billion in 2013, but the Federal Trade Commission said no last June.
Comcast and Times Warner Cable, the nation’s two largest cable operators, reached a $45 billion agreement to join forces in 2014, though the Department of Justice said the merger would make Comcast “an unavoidable gatekeeper for Internet-based services.” Comcast canceled the deal in April.
Thai Union, owner of the Chicken of the Sea brand, struck a $1.5 billion deal for U.S. rival Bumble Bee Seafoods in December 2014, but the companies walked away from the agreement a year later amid antitrust objections.