DealLawyers.com Blog

We’ve previously blogged about FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson’s promise that the agency would “get the hell out of the way” of non-problematic merger transactions, and the latest edition of Dechert’s Antitrust Merger Investigation Timing Tracker suggests that he’s a man of his word:

The average duration of significant U.S. merger investigations concluded in Q1 2026 is 10.8 months, coming in below the 12.3 month record-high average in 2025. The year-to-date median investigation duration is 11.8 months, compared with a median of 11.6 in 2025. For deals announced in 2025 and reviewed entirely under Trump-led agencies, the average investigation duration is 10.2 months, indicating some movement toward a shortening in average duration under the current administration.

This shorter timeline may reflect an effort to recalibrate the pace of merger investigations, consistent with broader policy signals from agency leadership favoring a more streamlined approach to merger review – or, as FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson put it, a desire to “get out of the way” of unproblematic deals. Earlier this month, the FTC also reaffirmed in its that it will vigorously mission statement enforce the antitrust laws “without unduly burdening legitimate business activity,” a phrase that had been removed from the Biden FTC’s strategic plan.

Dechert’s report also points to the recent judicial decision vacating the FTC’s new HSR form and the reinstatement of the prior, more abbreviated form.  While the agency also reinstated the early termination process, the report notes that early terminations account for a much smaller percentage of transactions than they did prior to the time the process was suspended.

– John Jenkins