The US DoJ fines a record $11 million an activist investor for violations of the HSR Act and agrees to injunctive relief to settle allegations (ValueAct)

On July 12, 2016, the US Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that activist investor ValueAct Capital agreed to pay a record $11 million fine and also agreed to injunctive relief to settle allegations that ValueAct violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, 15 U.S.C. § 18a (“the HSR Act”). According to the DOJ complaint, ValueAct purchased over $2.5 billion of voting securities of Halliburton and Baker Hughes after the two companies announced their merger in November 2014. While its stake represented less than 10% of each company’s voting share capital, according to the complaint, ValueAct purchased the shares with the intent to influence the companies’ business decisions in connection with the merger and therefore it could not rely on the HSR “investment-only”