Telecom M&A Draws Most Scrutiny From U.S. Congress, Study Shows

Telecommunications mergers have attracted greater scrutiny on Capitol Hill than those from any other sector in the past decade, a study shows.

Strategic communications firm Abernathy MacGregor’s study showed that while only 6% of deals valued at more than $5 billion drew scrutiny from Congress over the period, concerns centered mostly around telecom transactions.

Abernathy MacGregor looked at 301 publicly-available congressional letters involving deals announced between December 2009 and May 2020 and found that more than a third were targeted at telecom companies.

The pharmaceuticals sector accounted for 15% of letters written, followed by media with 11% and airlines with ...