Our Washington DC-based US antitrust group has an extensive background in US antitrust enforcement. Its members have strong ties to the US enforcement agencies, having both worked for and represented clients before the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The combined experience of our lawyers includes dozens of Second Request merger investigations, full phase civil conduct investigations and litigation of major antitrust cases in federal courts. We regularly advise on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, intellectual property licensing, and distribution and supply agreements.

Our US antitrust partners work closely with Freshfields' competition partners in Europe, enabling the firm to provide high quality support to clients dealing with multijurisdictional competition issues. In particular, we have substantial experience in co-ordinating multinational merger notification filings on major transactions. The combined strength of our US and European competition team gives us a strong platform to respond to the increasing internationalization of antitrust enforcement and to better meet our clients' need for multijurisdictional antitrust advice.

We also have a team of dedicated EU competition lawyers based in our Washington DC office able to provide EU competition law advice to North American clients in North American time zones.

Merger investigations and notifications

Recent experience includes advising:

  • Solvay S.A. on the FTC review of its $1.6 bn acquisition of Fournier Pharma;
  • Groupe Danone on the sale of H.P. Foods to Heinz;
  • UniCredito Italiano on its takeover of both Bayerische Hypotheken und Vereinsbank and Bank Austria Creditanstalt, creating a $55 bn entity;
  • Permira on its $2.5 bn acquisition of TV and radio broadcaster SBS Broadcasting;
  • Goldman Sachs Capital Partners on its $1.6 bn acquisition of Pirelli's Energy and Telecom Cables and Systems business;
  • Swiss International Air Lines on its proposed acquisition by Lufthansa;
  • Cinven Ltd on its $5.8 bn acquisition of Amadeus Global;
  • Monsanto Company on the DOJ review of its proposed acquisition of Emergent Genetics;
  • Smiths Group on the FTC review of its $1.0 bn acquisition of Medex;
  • Messer Group on the FTC second request review of the $3.5 bn sale of Messer Griesheim to Air Liquide;
  • Infineon Technologies, AG on the DOJ review of the sale of its fiber optics business to Finisar;
  • ArcLight Capital on several transactions, including the DOJ review of its acquisition of California power generation;
  • Continental Tire AG on its $2.6 bn acquisition of Phoenix AG; and
  • Amersham on the DOJ investigation of the $10 bn acquisition by General Electric.

Conduct investigations

We have advised clients in connection with substantial US antitrust investigations of a wide range of competitive conduct, including patent licensing restrictions, bundling and rebate programs, price signaling, information exchanges, marketing joint ventures, standard setting organizations, and alleged cartel activity.

Antitrust litigation

Our lawyers have played significant roles in complex antitrust litigation, including:

  • In re Piedmont Health Alliance, et al.;
  • United States v. Microsoft;
  • United States v. Visa International; and
  • United States v. Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines.

Antitrust compliance programs

We have organized and operated antitrust compliance programs for Continental Airlines, Dell Computer Corporation, HEB Supermarkets, Sun Microsystems, and other large and mid-cap US and foreign companies.

More information on Freshfields' global antitrust, competition and trade practice.

For more information please contact Paul Yde, partner in the US antitrust group, or Christa Crane, business development manager.

Careers

Information on our US careers

Related Practices

Antitrust, competition and trade

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