CCS Corp. agreed to abandon its plan to acquire Newport Resources Environmental services business. Although the company maintained that the acquisition of the business providing environmental services to off-shore oil and gas providers was not anticompetitive, it did not wish to engage in a protracted court battle.
Prior Post: The FTC has sought a temporary restraining order in the Southern District of Texas to block the acquisition of Newpark Environmental Services by CCS Corp. while proceeding before the FTC go forward. Both companies provide waste disposal services to the offshore oil and gas industry. The FTC claims that the companies are close competitors and that the acquisition would result in higher prices. CCS threatened to shut down its operations in the Gulf if the acquisition were not approved, but the FTC dismissed the threat as a pretext.