Parker Hannifin Settles With DOJ On Anti-Trust Lawsuit

MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, OH — Parker Hannifin has reached a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice over an anti-trust lawsuit. As a result, the Mayfield Heights-based company will divest its Facet filtration business, including some assets it acquired during its $4.3 billion acquisition of CLARCOR in Feb. 2017.

Aviation fuel must be properly filtered, at multiple stages, before it is delivered to commercial or military aircraft. Only fuel filtration products qualified by the Energy Institute may be used in U.S. commercial or military planes.

Parker Hannifin and CLARCOR were the only two manufacturers of EI-qualified filtration equipment. When Parker acquired CLARCOR, it eliminated head-to-head competition in the market.

"This divestiture avoids the difficulties of a regulatory behavioral decree, relying instead on competition in the free market to protect American consumers and our military," said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.

While Parker Hannifin will divest itself of the Facet filtration portion of its CLARCOR assets, the company will retain other portions of the business. According to Parker Hannifin, the CLARCOR business has an annual revenue of approximately $1.5 billion, and the Facet filtration business accounts for approximately $60 million of that annual revenue.

The proposed settlement has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

“We are pleased to reach this proposed settlement with the Department of Justice. Through this agreement, Parker will sell the Facet filtration business, providing an opportunity for a wide range of strategic buyers to enter this sought after business. Parker anticipates court approval of the Proposed Final Judgment and looks forward to ultimately resolving this matter. We continue with the successful integration of the broader filtration businesses acquired in the CLARCOR merger,” Parker Hannifin said in a statement.

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