A federal judge has denied the Federal Trade Commission’s bid to block Novant Health Inc.’s $320 million acquisition of two hospitals while the proposed purchase goes through the FTC’s administrative process, saying that delaying the merger would not be in the public interest.
“The Court may not simply rubber stamp the FTC’s request for an injunction upon the showing of a mere possibility that the antitrust laws will be violated,” U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District of North Carolina wrote in his order Wednesday.
