News release: “To promote transparency in merger enforcement, the Federal Trade Commission today released its most recent staff update of horizontal merger investigations, describing transactions that took place between fiscal years 1996 and 2007. The update expands the coverage of mergers by adding two more years to the agency’s database. The new data contain tabulated concentration levels associated with the FTC’s investigations in 1,154 markets over the 12-year period and reflect results from 210 merger investigations. The data tabulations use the two market share concentration statistics described in the agency’s Horizontal Merger Guidelines – the post-merger Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and the change in the HHI – along with the number of significant competitors. The number of “significant competitors” is defined relative to the competitive effects theory that was the most plausible basis for the investigation. Data on HHIs are available for 1,150 markets and data on “significant competitors” are presented for 925 markets.”