Case Description
In October 2026, the Plaintiff States and FTC filed a complaint seeking a permanent injunction to prevent Platinum Equity and its PlayPower entities from acquiring Burke from Bertram Capital. The complaint alleges that Burke is one of PlayPower’s closest competitors for the manufacture of commercial outdoor playground equipment, and that, as a result, the proposed transaction would threaten higher prices, lower quality and service, and diminished innovation for school, parks, churches and other commercial outdoor playground customers.
The complaint alleges that the proposed transaction would increase concentration in a national market for commercial outdoor playground equipment, stating that the resulting firm that would have over a 30% market share and it would exceed the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index thresholds that indicate that a merger is presumptively illegal under the 2023 U.S. Department of Justice and FTC Merger Guidelines. The complaint also states that PlayPower and Burke are close head-to-head competitors, competing intensely on price, innovation, quality, safety and customer service. The complaint brings claims under the FTC Act and Section 7 of the Clayton Act.