About
Paul van den Berg is an antitrust, competition and trade partner in our firm’s Amsterdam and Brussels offices. He specialises in competition law, European law and regulated markets.
Paul advises clients across a range of sectors including fast-moving-consumer-goods, energy and healthcare. He has significant experience in advising multinational companies and private equity firms on global merger control procedures. In addition, he advises clients in cartel, abuse of dominance, foreign investment control and state aid procedures, and competition law and regulatory litigation. He has represented clients before the Dutch and European courts and advised on complex proceedings before a large number of competition authorities around the world.
Paul has a global client base and regularly speaks and publishes on antitrust topics. Clients greatly value his collaborative, efficient and practical style. Paul has also been seconded to the firm's Beijing office in the course of his career at the firm.
Additional Information
- APG in relation to the merger of its fibre joint venture Orange Polska with competitor Nexera, creating Poland’s largest open wholesale fibre network operator.
- First Reserve and Trillium Flow Technologies on the Sale of Trillium Pumps US to Crane Company.
- A publisher in relation to the sector inquiry by the Ducth competition authority ACM with respect to digital learning materials for schools.
- CPP Investments in relation to its acquisition of joint control, alongside Equinix, of major Scandinavian data center operator atNorth.
- CPP Investments on its acquisition of Tarchon Subsea Interconnector from CIP.
- Mercuria in relation to its global commodity trading joint venture set up with Tata.
- An FMCG supplier in relation to the sector inquiry by the Ducth competition authority ACM with respect to prices for food products.
- Compass Group in relation to its acquisition of competing caterer Vermaat.
- A chain of veterinarians in relation to the sector inquiry by the Ducth competition authority ACM with respect to the veterinarian market.
- APG in relation to its acquisition of joint control, alongside Antin, of major European data center operator NorthC.
- APG on €2bn residential joint venture in Ireland.
- CPP Investments, BCI, Glencore and Viterra in relation to the merger between agricultural commodity trading companies Viterra and Bunge, resulting in more than 40 merger control and FDI procedures globally.
- Blackstone and Permira on merger control, FDI and Foreign Subsidies procedures with respect to their $13bn public bid for Adevinta.
- Pension funds and pension fund managers CPP Investments, BCI, PGGM and APG, as global antitrust advisor, managing global merger control and FDI procedures for a large number of transactions covering all parts of the globe on a continuous basis.
- Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board on sale of stakes in Birmingham, Bristol, Brussels, Copenhagen and London City airports.
- Goldman Sachs and Blackstone on the sale of Prima to AXA.
- Sonoco Products Company on the unconditional clearance of its $3.9bn acquisition of Eviosys Group, from KPS Capital Partners.
- Blackstone on a number of transactions globally, including the acquisition of Schenk Process, Rothesay and Center Parcs.
- First Reserve on the acquisition of A. Hak Industrial Services, a global provider of pipeline inspection and maintenance services.
- AB InBev on the divestments of its Australian business to Asahi, resulting in in-depth investigations in Australia and conditional clearance decisions adopted by the ACCC and FIRB.
- General Atlantic on a large number of transactions globally, including its majority investment in Argus Media Limited.
- Van Drie, the world’s largest veal producer, on various transactions, including the acquisitions of Van Dam, Alpuro and Tendriade, resulting in in-depth procedures with remedies.
- AB InBev in relation to the European Commission’s abuse of dominance investigation with respect to parallel trade, resulting in a €200m settlement.
- Novartis on its three-part, portfolio-transforming transaction with GSK, specifically on the China competition law aspects of the combination of Novartis’ consumer healthcare business with that of GSK.
- Ardian on the acquisition of Deli Home, a leading Dutch made-to-measure manufacturer and distributor of home improvement products, from NPM Capital.
- Suzano Papel e Celulose, the Brazilian paper and pulp manufacturer, on the global competition law strategy, including merger filings in the EU, US, China and Brazil, for its $11bn acquisition of rival Fibria Celulose, resulting innovative remedies in the EU.
- Mars on antitrust compliance matters.
- PGGM and co-investor DIF as to global merger control aspects of their acquisition of joint control over Fudura, a Dutch energy infrastructure company, offering servicers in metering, data, electric engineering and electric vehicle charging.
- APG in relation to merger control and FDI filings regarding its investment in DriveCo, a leading French electric vehicle charging infrastructure company.
- Deutsche Bank on the divestment of its prime brokerage business to BNP Paribas.
- NN Group in relation to EU merger control proceedings with respect to its acquisition of Delta Lloyd.
- Multiple FDI procedures in relation to confidential transactions in sensitive sectors such as telecoms, data centers and semiconductors.
He is a good communicator with lots of experience in the antitrust area”. Clients commend him for his “ability to effectively manage complex cases in multiple jurisdictions”, and “keep calm in high pressure situations”.’
— Who’s Who Legal Competition, 2017
Paul van den Berg
Partner
Amsterdam Office
Strawinskylaan 10
P.O. Box 75299
Amsterdam 1070 AG
Brussels Office
Bastion Tower
Place du Champ de Mars/Marsveldplein 5
Brüssel B-1050