DENVER – A US District Court judge set December 15 as the date to hear a Department of Justice request for an injunction to stop the proposed merger of First Data and Concord EFS, giants in transaction processing services and e-commerce solutions.
In April the companies announced a definitive merger agreement in an all-stock transaction valued at $7 billion.
Shareholders of both companies approved the merger in separate meetings on October 28, five days after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed its civil antitrust action seeking an injunction to stop it.
U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer ordered that the December 15 hearing on the government’s motion for a preliminary injunction will be consolidated with a trial.