Case
Toyota Industries and Cascade Corporation Transaction
Analysis Group and our affiliate, Edward Snyder, assisted Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO), a manufacturer of lift trucks, in its vertical acquisition of Cascade Corporation, a manufacturer of state-of-the-art lift truck attachments. In its review, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) raised concerns that the vertical transaction would result in exclusionary conduct and that Cascade might withhold its specialized attachments from TICO's lift truck competitors. As part of its analysis, the DOJ developed a merger simulation model to predict the likely competitive effects of the acquisition. However, Professor Snyder, supported by an Analysis Group team led by CEO Pierre Cremieux and including Managing Principals Andrea Okie and Marc Van Audenrode and Vice President Markus von Wartburg, found that the DOJ's simulation model contained several factually inaccurate assumptions, particularly regarding input substitution. Professor Snyder and the Analysis Group team analyzed upward pricing pressure and developed a state-of-the-art vGUPPI tool that enables quick testing of alternative assumptions in vertical mergers or acquisitions. The analysis demonstrated that more accurate assumptions removed any indication that TICO would have incentives to engage in exclusionary conduct. Professor Snyder also provided a combination of descriptive and econometric analysis of a prior vertical acquisition by TICO to convince the DOJ that TICO had not attempted to exclude competitors following that acquisition and would have no incentive to do so in this acquisition. The transaction was allowed to proceed without restrictions.
Meet Our People
Marc Van Audenrode*
Managing Principal*Dr. Van Audenrode is an expert in data analysis and econometrics, labor economics, antitrust and competition policy, and public economics. He has consulted to clients - including law firms and government agencies - in Canada, the US, and Europe. Dr. Van Audenrode’s work includes developing a methodology to value desktop software; he also developed expertise valuing goods as varied as restaurant franchises, executive stock options, or smartphone features. His recent work in public economics includes evaluating the economic rent from hydroelectricity to the Canadian economy and the value of logging rights on the ancestral territory of a Canadian First Nation. In the area of labor economics, his work has included filing an expert report assessing fair compensation for Quebec provincial judges and Quebec prosecutors and advising Quebec’s commission on pay equity. Dr. Van Audenrode has filed expert reports in courts in the US, Canada, Belgium, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, and has testified in Canada and the US. He recently filed a report with the Amsterdam Court of Appeal in support of the settlement reached between Ageas and claimant organizations in the Fortis case, the largest settlement ever reached through the Dutch Collective Settlement Act (WCAM). Dr. Van Audenrode’s scientific research and articles have been published in numerous peer-reviewed academic journals and trade journals. He is a coauthor of the book The Mutual Fund Industry: Competition and Investor Welfare, and is a frequent presenter at industry and academic conferences.
*Marc Van Audenrode srl