US Sugar-Imperial Sugar Deal Beats DOJ Appeal at 3rd Cir. (1)

The Justice Department lost its appeal to block US Sugar Corp.‘s $315 million acquisition of rival Imperial Sugar, after the Third Circuit sided with a lower court’s decision that the DOJ’s antitrust division failed to properly define the market that would be harmed.

The appeal, following oral arguments in January, appeared to be a long shot for the DOJ’s antitrust regulators.

“Because the District Court’s rejection of the government’s proposed product market is not clearly erroneous, we will affirm,” Judge David Porter wrote for the appeals court.

US Sugar and Imperial Sugar already closed their deal in late November ...