Ninette is co-head of Freshfields’ competition practice in China.
She spent over 10 years in Brussels advising on EU and multijurisdictional matters before relocating to Beijing in 2009 to head the antitrust practice of another 'magic circle' firm.
Ninette’s practice covers advising clients on antitrust matters in China, Hong Kong and southeast Asia. She specialises in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, distribution arrangements, cartels, abuse of dominance, compliance and audits, and investigations.
Ninette has recently acted on some of the most significant merger-control matters (and a substantial number of transactions involving remedies) and investigations in China, including in the shipping and healthcare sectors. In Hong Kong, she has advised several clients in the fast-moving consumer goods, retail and telecommunications sectors.
Clients include multinational companies, state-owned enterprises and sovereign wealth funds active across a range of sectors, including shipping, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and life sciences, consumer goods, food and beverages, mining and IT.
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- Advising AB InBev on its £78.4bn acquisition of SABMiller. Ninette also: co-led the team advising AB InBev on the sale of SABMiller’s minority interest in CR Snow for $1.6bn, resulting in one of the first 'fix-it-first' remedies in China; and advised InBev on its acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, the first remedy decision under China’s anti-monopoly law.
- Advising on a landmark settlement with China’s National Development and Reform Commission for a major container shipping line – the largest investigation to date in China.
- Advising Boehringer Ingelheim on its acquisition of Sanofi’s animal health business, part of a wider €22.8bn asset swap between the two companies.
- Advising Continental on its $1.9bn acquisition of Ohio-based rubber and plastics company Veyance Technologies from the Carlyle Group.
- Advising Hapag-Lloyd on its merger with the container liner shipping activities of Chile’s Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores, creating a company with pro-forma annual sales of $12bn in 2014. Ninette also advised Hapag-Lloyd on its acquisition of United Arab Shipping Company.
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Education
- University of Exeter, UK (LLB)
- Free University of Brussels, licence spéciale (LLM)
Professional qualifications
- Admitted to the Brussels Bar
- Admitted to the Bar of England and Wales (non-practising)
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