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March 18, 2020 at 03:48 PM
As the coronavirus affects government and other operations across the U.S., the Department of Justice said Tuesday it is asking firms involved in mergers and acquisitions to add 30 days to their “deal timing agreements” — including the $26 billion purchase by Charles Schwab of TD Ameritrade.
The DOJ says it needs the extra time to finish its review of deals “once all parties comply with document requests.” It also is postponing all depositions and handling meetings via phone or videoconference “whenever possible.”
But Schwab says the deal and its associated regulatory process remain on track.
“We don’t have any comment on the impact of the DOJ’s announced changes, nor have we made any change to our previously announced expectation that the deal will close sometime in the second half of the year,” according to a spokesperson.
The merger would unite about 14,000 of the country’s 20,000 RIAs, he says, adding that some of these 14,000 RIAs use more than one custodian.
Schwab has an estimated 50% market share as an RIA custodian; TD Ameritrade’s share is roughly 15% to 20%, and Fidelity has about 25%.
