Biography
Jeff Perry is Co-Head of Weil’s U.S. Antitrust practice. He is a veteran antitrust enforcer and practitioner, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, government investigations, and ensuing litigation. A highly recognized leader in the field, Jeff serves as antitrust counsel to a number of Fortune 50 clients. He has been recognized by the market as, “an incredibly strong lawyer,” “a highly effective antitrust lawyer who gives excellent practical advice to clients,” and “extremely talented, knowledgeable and a great communicator.” – Chambers USA and Legal 500.
Before joining Weil in 2014, he served for 13 years at the Federal Trade Commission, most recently as Assistant Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition and head of the FTC’s Mergers IV Division. Jeff’s high-level agency expertise and successful track-record in private practice have made him one of the most adept and effective antitrust attorneys in the country. Chambers USA highlights his prior experience, noting that he is a “former FTC manager who is both incredibly practical and incredibly client-friendly.”
During his tenure at the FTC, Jeff led and managed hundreds of significant merger matters, including investigations and challenges across virtually every industry overseen by the agency. As head of the Mergers IV Division, Jeff managed the Division’s antitrust enforcement across a variety of industries, including supermarkets, retail stores, healthcare, food and beverage products, casinos, and a wide range of consumer products. He had leading roles in numerous high-profile investigations and litigations, including Office Depot/OfficeMax, ProMedica/St. Luke’s, OSF/Rockford Memorial, Kroger/Harris Teeter, Phoebe Putney/Palmyra, Pinnacle/Ameristar, and Whole Foods/Wild Oats. Jeff also worked closely with senior antitrust enforcement officials in numerous countries and State Attorneys General offices.
Prior to becoming Assistant Director, Jeff served in a number of important government positions, including Special Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia, where he first-chaired more than 20 criminal trials, and Counsel to the Director of the Bureau of Competition at the FTC, where he helped to oversee merger and non-merger cases across a range of industries. Before being promoted to Assistant Director, he served as Deputy Assistant Director of the Bureau of Competition.
Jeff is consistently recognized for his work in antitrust by numerous publications, including by Legal 500 US, The Best Lawyers in America, and Chambers USA. Jeff also has been named to BTI Consulting’s 2023 Client Service All Star List and to Lawdragon 500’s “Leading Litigators in America” guide, which recognizes “all-star litigators” from across the U.S. Additionally, Global Competition Review recognized Jeff as a leading competition lawyer in its worldwide guide, Who’s Who Legal Competition, and he is named by Legal Media Group as one of the “Top 30 Competition and Antitrust Practitioners in the U.S.” in its 2020 edition of Best of the Best USA Expert Guides. Earlier in his career, Jeff was recognized by The National Law Journal as an Antitrust “Trailblazer” and as a “D.C. Rising Star” — a list of 40 “game-changing” private, government and public interest advocacy attorneys aged 40 or under practicing in Washington, D.C.
Jeff is consistently praised by his clients and the broader market who describe him as someone who “has an incredible ability to understand businesses very quickly” and “really understands how to build a good defense and what the agencies need to build a good merger case. He also brings incredible litigation skills with him.” “His biggest strength is he has a keen understanding of client needs, where he’s able to quickly give real, actionable advice.” – Chambers USA.
Jeff is a recurring lecturer on antitrust and business topics at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and The Antonin Scalia Law School. In addition, Jeff is an active member of the antitrust bar and has served in various leadership positions of the Antitrust Section of the ABA, including as Vice Chair of the Pricing Conduct Committee.
Representative Matters
- WTW in the pending $632M sale of its TRANZACT direct-to-consumer insurance distribution business to GTCR.
- Giant Eagle, Inc. in the pending sale of GetGo Café + Market Stores to Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc.
- ChampionX Corporation in its pending $7.8B sale to SLB.
- The Home Depot, Inc. in its $18.25 billion acquisition of SRS Distribution Inc.
- Johnson & Johnson in numerous transactions, including:
- The pending acquisition of medical device maker V-Wave for up to $1.7 billion
- The $13.1B acquisition of Shockwave Medical
- The ~$16.6 billion acquisition of heart pump maker Abiomed Inc.
- The $275M+ sale of its Acclarent ENT surgery division to Integra
- The $400M+ acquisition of Laminar, Inc., a privately-held medical device company focused on stroke risk mitigation for patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib)
- The acquisition of orthopedic company CrossRoads Extremity Systems
- Providence Equity Partners and the Ambassador Theatre Group in its merger with Jujamcyn Theaters, the largest Broadway theatre M&A transaction in decades.
- C&S Wholesale Grocers in connection with the Federal Trade Commission’s study under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act regarding the competitive impact of supply chain disruptions in consumer goods.
- 365 Retail Markets, a provider of self-service technologies and vending offerings, in its merger with Avanti Markets.
- ZoomInfo Technologies in its acquisition of Chorus.ai, a provider of conversational intelligence solutions.
- Core-Mark Holding Company, a wholesale distributor to the convenience retail industry, in its $2.5 billion sale to Performance Food Group.
- Ambassador Theatre Group in its acquisition of touring Broadway show theaters in San Francisco and Detroit.
- Meta Platforms (f/k/a Facebook) in its acquisition of Kustomer, a customer relationship management (CRM) company.
- TopGolf in its $2 billion merger of equals with Callaway Golf Company.
- CoStar Group in the antitrust aspects of its acquisition of Ten-X’s commercial real estate transaction platform.
- Fairway Group Holdings, an iconic New York supermarket chain, in the antitrust aspects of its chapter 11 cases.
- Willis Towers Watson PLC in the antitrust aspects of its $80 billion proposed combination with Aon PLC.
- Enverus in the antitrust aspects of its acquisition of RS Energy Group, a technology firm focused in the upstream oil & gas industry.
- Varian Medical Systems, Inc. in the antitrust aspects of its $90 million acquisition of interventional oncology assets from Boston Scientific.
- Willis Towers Watson in the $1.2 billion acquisition of TRANZACT, a direct-to-consumer health care organization that links individuals to U.S. insurance carriers.
- Belmond Ltd., an owner and operator of luxury hotels, tourist trains, a river cruise ship and restaurants, in the antitrust aspects of its pending $3.2 billion sale to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.
- Nexeo Solutions, Inc. in the antitrust aspects of its $2 billion sale to Univar Inc.
- BASF in its $11B acquisition of seed and herbicide businesses and assets pursuant to a DOJ antitrust consent decree in connection with Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto. At the time, BASF’s acquisition was the largest negotiated merger divestiture in the history of US antitrust enforcement.
- Bridgestone Americas in its joint venture with Goodyear to form a national tire distributor.
- CoStar Group, owner of Apartments.com, in the antitrust aspects of its $385 million acquisition of online apartment rental platform ForRent.com.
- Walgreens Boots Alliance in its acquisition of 1,932 Rite Aid stores and related assets, a transaction valued at $4.377 billion.
- DiscoverOrg and its PE sponsor TA Associates on the antitrust aspects of its acquisition of RainKing from Spectrum Equity.
- G & K Services, Inc. in its $2.2 billion merger with Cintas Corporation. Although the deal received a Second Request, it obtained unconditional clearance from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
- Dean Foods in its acquisition of Friendly’s ice cream manufacturing and distribution business.
- WEX Inc., a leading provider of corporate payment solutions, in its $1.5 billion acquisition of Electronic Funds Source LLC. The deal received unconditional clearance from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission despite the issuance of a Second Request.
- The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. (A&P) in its chapter 11 case. As part of the chapter 11 plan, A&P sought to sell 120 stores to supermarket competitors, including Albertsons, Royal Ahold, and Key Food Stores. Weil secured prompt antitrust clearance from the FTC for the sale of A&P’s stores, relying in part on the rarely-successful failing firm defense.
- Willis Group Holdings in its merger with Towers Watson, a transaction valued at approximately $18 billion. The combined company will be named Willis Towers Watson and will create an integrated global advisory, brokering and solutions provider with approximately 39,000 employees in over 120 countries.
Awards and Recognition, Speaking Engagements, Latest Thinking, Firm News & Announcements
Awards and Recognition
- Jeff Perry Named Among Leading Lawyers for Antitrust in Washington, D.C. Award Brief — Chambers USA
- Jeff Perry Named a “Leading Lawyer” in Antitrust: Merger Control Award Brief — Legal 500 US
- Jeff Perry Named a “Best Lawyer” for Antitrust Law Award Brief — The Best Lawyers in America
- Jeff Perry Named to BTI Consulting’s 2023 Clients Service All Star List Award Brief — BTI Consulting
- Jeff Perry Named a “Leading Litigator in America” Award Brief — Lawdragon 500 2024 2025
Speaking Engagements
-
Goodbye Non-Competes? The FTC’s Proposed Rule
Speaker(s):
John P. Barry and
Jeffrey H. Perry
February 16, 2023 — Weil’s Employment Practice Group Head John P. Barry and U.S. Antitrust/Competition Practice Co-Head Jeffrey Perry participated in a panel presentation entitled “Goodbye Non-Competes? The FTC’s Proposed Rule,” which was sponsored by The Conference Board’s ESG Center. During this presentation, they discussed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Non-Compete Clause Rule, its practical impact on companies, the prospects for, and potential challenges to, the rule, and what companies should do to prepare in the event it is implemented.
Latest Thinking
- Antitrust Enforcement in Labor Markets: Merger Analysis at a Time of Agency Transition Alert — By John P. Barry, Megan A. Granger, Adam C. Hemlock, Eric S. Hochstadt, Brianne Kucerik, Michael Moiseyev, Jeffrey H. Perry, Jasmine Rosner, Kristin Sanford, John E. Scribner, Mark Seidman, Rebecca Sivitz, Jeff L. White, Joe Ehrenkrantz and Katie Rider — PDF — December 10, 2024
- Antitrust Enforcement in Trump’s Second Term: Policy Changes, Enforcement Priorities, and Leadership Turnover Alert — Antitrust — By Megan A. Granger, Adam C. Hemlock, Eric S. Hochstadt, Brianne Kucerik, Michael Moiseyev, Jeffrey H. Perry, Jasmine Rosner, Kristin Sanford, John E. Scribner, Mark Seidman, Jeff L. White, Charlotte McFaddin and Michael Geisler — PDF — November 18, 2024
- New HSR Rules, and Impact of Change in Administration Alert — Antitrust — By Megan A. Granger, Adam C. Hemlock, Eric S. Hochstadt, Brianne Kucerik, Michael Moiseyev, Jeffrey H. Perry, Jasmine Rosner, Kristin Sanford, John E. Scribner, Mark Seidman, Jeff L. White, Carla A. R. Hine and Michael C. Naughton — PDF — November 14, 2024
- FTC and DOJ Announce Final Rulemaking for Overhaul of HSR Premerger Notification Filings and Reinstate Early Termination Alert — Antitrust — By Brianne Kucerik, Jeffrey H. Perry, Michael Moiseyev, Carla A. R. Hine, Michael C. Naughton, Marie-Marie O. de Fays and Dan S. Nobil — PDF — October 11, 2024
- Texas District Court Sets Aside the FTC’s Non-Compete Rule Alert — By Mark A. Perry, John P. Barry, Jeffrey H. Perry, Eric S. Hochstadt and Josh Wesneski — PDF — August 27, 2024
Firm News & Announcements
- Weil Advised TruArc Partners in Investment in DMI Personal Care Deal Brief — December 10, 2024
- Weil Advises WTW in $632M Sale of TRANZACT to GTCR and Recognize Deal Brief — October 01, 2024