Republic Services-Allied Waste Industries Merger

In 2008, Republic Services proposed to merge with Allied Waste Industries in a combination of the third- and second-largest waste hauling and disposal companies in the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and several state attorneys general investigated the potential competitive impacts of the merger on small container commercial waste collection and the disposal of municipal solid waste. In all, nearly 20 separate geographic areas were evaluated in detail for potential competitive effects in waste collection, disposal, or both.

Henry Kahwaty and Cleve Tyler worked with Republic’s outside counsel and internal Republic managers to collect relevant information and data, evaluate potential competitive impacts from the merger, and assess divestiture alternatives. For example, Drs. Kahwaty and Tyler analyzed customer-level data to identify potential areas of overlap. They also helped collect information from local and regional field managers to analyze relevant issues and help prepare responses to the DOJ’s second request.

Drs. Kahwaty and Tyler helped draft more than 20 white papers related to individual markets, including the relevant factual circumstances of each proposed local market being considered and the likely competitive impacts of the merger for both collection and disposal. They developed numerous analyses to address specific competitive situations or issues in individual markets. They aided in the preparation of second request materials, especially where the use of large company databases was necessary to prepare the response. Drs. Kahwaty and Tyler also evaluated the sufficiency of proposed divestiture packages.

The DOJ and seven state attorneys general approved the merger in late 2008 subject to certain divestiture requirements. The full case filings are available at the Antitrust Division’s website.

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