The Charles Schwab Corporation announced today that the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) alerted the company on the 3rd of June 2020 that it has decided to close its investigation on the proposed Acquisition of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation.
As Finance Magnates reported, the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement for Charles Schwab, an online discount brokerage, to acquire TD Ameritrade in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $26 billion.
As pointed out by the Securities and Investments Commission (SEC) earlier today, on the 29th of January 2020, TD Ameritrade and Schwab each received a request for additional information and documentary material from the Antitrust Division of the DOJ.
On the 3rd of June, both parties complied with this request, resulting in the DOJ closing its investigation of the proposed acquisition. According to the regulator, the parties expect to receive termination of the waiting period under the HSR Act promptly.
Commenting on the closure of the DOJ’s investigation, Schwab President and CEO Walt Bettinger said in the statement: “We’re gratified by the DOJ’s decision and appreciate its diligent and thorough review.
“We are pleased to be Clearing an important milestone in our planned acquisition of TD Ameritrade and look forward to today’s scheduled votes by the stockholders of our two companies, which represent another important step toward completion of the transaction.”
At this point, Charles Schwab still needs to receive regulatory and stockholder approvals from Schwab and TD Ameritrade. Once these conditions have been met, the companies expect the transaction will close in the second half of 2020. The following integration is forecast to take between 18 and 36 months to complete.
Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade sued over acquisition
However, the acquisition has hit other road blocks, with eight complaints having been filed by purported TD Ameritrade stockholders in federal court in May, seeking to halt the combination with Schwab, disclosures filed by each firm showed.
As Finance Magnates reported, six of these complaints named TD Ameritrade board of directors as defendants while two other actions are suing Schwab managers. The complaints generally allege, among other things, that the defendants filed materially incomplete and misleading registration statements.
