REED ELSEVIER NV, REED ELSEVIER PLC, REED ELSEVIER GROUP ...

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Complaint

IN THE MATTER OF

REED ELSEVIER NV, REED ELSEVIER PLC, REED ELSEVIER GROUP PLC, REED ELSEVIER INC., CHOICEPOINT INC., CHOICEPOINT SERVICES INC.,

AND

CHOICEPOINT GOVERNMENT SERVICES LLC

CONSENT ORDER, ETC., IN REGARD TO ALLEGED VIOLATIONS OF SEC. 7 OF THE CLAYTON ACT AND SEC. 5 OF THE FEDERAL TRADE

COMMISSION ACT

Docket No. C-4257; File No. 081 0133 Complaint, June 1, 2009 ? Decision, June 1, 2009

This consent order addresses the $4.1 billion acquisition by Reed Elsevier of ChoicePoint. The complaint alleges that the acquisition would eliminate substantial competition between the only two significant suppliers of electronic public record services sold to law enforcement customers in the United States and enable LexisNexis to unilaterally raise the prices of electronic public records services. The complaint also alleges that this market is highly concentrated. The order requires the divestiture of assets related to ChoicePoint's AutoTrackXP and CLEAR electronic public records services to Thomson Reuters Legal Inc. The order also requires Reed Elsevier to provide various transitional services and allows the Commission to appoint an interim monitor.

Participants

For the Commission: Brendan J. McNamara, Christine Naglieri, and Catherine M. Sanchez.

For the Respondents: Richard Feinstein, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP; Robert Lipstein, Crowell Moring LLP; Christine Varney, Hogan & Hartson LLP; Dale Collins, Shearman & Sterling LLP; and Damian Didden, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

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COMPLAINT

Pursuant to the Clayton Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act, and its authority thereunder, the Federal Trade Commission ("Commission"), having reason to believe that Respondent Reed Elsevier Inc., a subsidiary of Respondent Reed Elsevier Group plc, which is owned by Respondent Reed Elsevier NV and Respondent Reed Elsevier PLC (collectively "Reed Elsevier"), corporations subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, have agreed to acquire Respondent ChoicePoint Inc., Respondent ChoicePoint Services Inc., and Respondent ChoicePoint Government Services LLC (collectively "ChoicePoint"), corporations subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. ? 18, and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. ? 45, and it appearing to the Commission that a proceeding in respect thereof would be in the public interest, hereby issues its Complaint, stating its charges as follows:

I. RESPONDENTS

1. Respondent Reed Elsevier NV is a corporation organized, existing, and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of The Netherlands, with its office and principal place of business located at Radarweg 29, 1043 NX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

2. Respondent Reed Elsevier PLC is a public limited company, organized, existing, and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of the United Kingdom, with its office and principal place of business located at 1-3 The Strand, WC2N 5JR, London, England.

3. Respondent Reed Elsevier Group plc is a public limited company, organized, existing, and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of the United Kingdom, with its office and principal place of business located at 1-3 The Strand, WC2N 5JR, London, England.

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4. Respondent Reed Elsevier Inc. is a corporation, organized, existing, and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of Massachusetts, with its office or principal place of business at 125 Park Avenue, Suite 2300, New York, New York 10017.

5. Respondent ChoicePoint Inc. is a corporation organized, existing and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of Georgia, with its office and principal place of business located at 1000 Alderman Drive, Alpharetta, Georgia 30005.

6. Respondent ChoicePoint Services Inc. is a corporation organized, existing and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of Georgia, with its office and principal place of business located at 1000 Alderman Drive, Alpharetta, Georgia 30005.

7. Respondent ChoicePoint Government Services LLC is a Georgia limited liability company with its office and principal place of business located at 1000 Alderman Drive, Alpharetta, Georgia 30005.

8. Respondents are, and at all times herein have been, engaged in commerce, as "commerce" is defined in Section 1 of the Clayton Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. ?12, and are corporations whose businesses are in or affect commerce, as "commerce" is defined in Section 4 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. ? 44.

II. THE PROPOSED ACQUISITION

9. Pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated as of February 20, 2008 (the "Agreement"), Reed Elsevier proposes to acquire ChoicePoint for approximately $4.1 billion (the "Acquisition").

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III. THE RELEVANT MARKET

10. For the purposes of this Complaint, the relevant market in which to analyze the effects of the Acquisition is electronic public records services for law enforcement customers.

11. For the purposes of this complaint, the United States is the relevant geographic area in which to analyze the effects of the Acquisition in the relevant line of commerce.

IV. THE STRUCTURE OF THE MARKET

12. LexisNexis, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reed Elsevier, and ChoicePoint are, by a large margin, the two largest providers in the United States of electronic public records services for law enforcement customers. Consequently, the U.S. market for electronic public records services for law enforcement customers is highly concentrated as measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index ("HHI").

13. LexisNexis and ChoicePoint are actual and substantial competitors in the relevant market.

V. ENTRY CONDITIONS

14. New entry into the relevant market would not be timely, likely, or sufficient to deter or counteract the anticompetitive effects of the Acquisition set forth in Paragraph 16 below. New entry into the relevant market is a difficult process because of, among other things, the time and cost associated with developing electronic public records services for law enforcement customers and the lengthy period necessary to attain customer acceptance within this customer segment. As a result, new entry into any of these markets sufficient to achieve a significant market impact within two years is unlikely.

15. Expansion by smaller competitors into the relevant market would not be timely, likely, or sufficient to deter or counteract the

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anticompetitive effects of the Acquisition set forth in Paragraph 16 below. As a result, new entry into any of these markets sufficient to achieve a significant market impact within two years is unlikely.

VI. EFFECTS OF THE ACQUISITION

16. The effects of the Acquisition, if consummated, may be to substantially lessen competition and to tend to create a monopoly in the relevant market in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. ? 18, and Section 5 of the FTC Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. ? 45, in the following ways, among others:

a. by eliminating actual, direct, and substantial competition between LexisNexis and ChoicePoint for the sale of electronic public records services for law enforcement customers in the United States;

b. by increasing the likelihood that LexisNexis will exercise market power unilaterally in the U.S. market for electronic public records services for law enforcement customers;

c. by reducing the merged entity's incentives to improve service or product quality or to pursue further innovation in the U.S. market for electronic public records services for law enforcement customers; and

d. by increasing the likelihood that law enforcement customers would be forced to pay higher prices for electronic public records services.

VII. VIOLATIONS CHARGED

17. The Acquisition described in Paragraph 9 constitutes a violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. ? 45.

18. The Acquisition described in Paragraph 9, if consummated, would constitute a violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, as

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amended, 15 U.S.C. ? 18, and Section 5 of the FTC Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. ? 45.

WHEREFORE, THE PREMISES CONSIDERED, the Federal Trade Commission on this first day of June, 2009, issues its Complaint against said Respondents.

By the Commission.

DECISION AND ORDER

The Federal Trade Commission ("Commission") having initiated an investigation of the proposed acquisition by Respondent Reed Elsevier, Inc., a subsidiary of Respondent Reed Elsevier Group plc, which is owned by Respondent Reed Elsevier NV and Respondent Reed Elsevier PLC (collectively "Reed Elsevier") of Respondent ChoicePoint Inc., Respondent ChoicePoint Services Inc., and Respondent ChoicePoint Government Services LLC (collectively "ChoicePoint"), and Respondents having been furnished thereafter with a copy of the draft Complaint that the Bureau of Competition proposed to present to the Commission for its consideration and that, if issued by the Commission, would charge Respondents with violations of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. ? 18, and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. ? 45; and

Respondents, their attorneys, and counsel for the Commission having thereafter executed a Consent Agreement, an admission by Respondents of all the jurisdictional facts set forth in the aforesaid draft Complaint, a statement that the signing of the Consent Agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by Respondents that the law has been violated as alleged in such Complaint, or that the facts as alleged in such Complaint,

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other than jurisdictional facts, are true, and waivers and other provisions as required by the Commission's Rules; and

The Commission having thereafter considered the matter and having determined that it had reason to believe that Respondents have violated the said Acts and that a Complaint should issue stating its charges in that respect, and having thereupon issued its Complaint and having accepted the executed Consent Agreement and placed such Consent Agreement on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days for the receipt and consideration of public comments, and having duly considered the comments received from interested persons pursuant to section 2.34 of its Rules, now in further conformity with the procedure described in Commission Rule 2.34, 16 C.F.R. ? 2.34, the Commission hereby makes the following jurisdictional findings and issues the following Decision and Order ("Order"):

1. Respondent Reed Elsevier NV is a corporation organized, existing, and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of The Netherlands, with its office and principal place of business located at Radarweg 29, 1043 NX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

2. Respondent Reed Elsevier PLC is a public limited company, organized, existing, and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of the United Kingdom, with its office and principal place of business located at 1-3 The Strand, WC2N 5JR, London, England.

3. Respondent Reed Elsevier Group plc is a public limited company, organized, existing, and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of the United Kingdom, with its office and principal place of business located at 1-3 The Strand, WC2N 5JR, London, England.

4. Respondent Reed Elsevier Inc. is a corporation, organized, existing, and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of Massachusetts, with its office or principal place of business at 125 Park Avenue, Suite 2300, New York, New York 10017.

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5. Respondent ChoicePoint Inc. is a corporation organized, existing and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of Georgia, with its office and principal place of business located at 1000 Alderman Drive, Alpharetta, Georgia 30005.

6. Respondent ChoicePoint Services Inc. is a corporation organized, existing and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of Georgia, with its office and principal place of business located at 1000 Alderman Drive, Alpharetta, Georgia 30005.

7. Respondent ChoicePoint Government Services LLC is a Georgia limited liability company with its office and principal place of business located at 1000 Alderman Drive, Alpharetta, Georgia 30005.

8. The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction of the subject matter of this proceeding and of the Respondents and the proceeding is in the public interest.

ORDER

I.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that, as used in this Order, the following definitions shall apply:

A. "Reed Elsevier NV" means Reed Elsevier NV, its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, successors, and assigns; its subsidiaries, divisions, groups, and affiliates controlled by Reed Elsevier NV, and the respective directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, successors, and assigns of each.

B. "Reed Elsevier PLC" means Reed Elsevier PLC, its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, successors, and assigns; its subsidiaries, divisions, groups, and affiliates controlled by Reed Elsevier PLC, and the

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