About
Thomas is a Chamber band 1-ranked partner in our antitrust, competition and trade practice group, which he led globally for six years.
In client mandates, Thomas immerses himself in the business of his clients in order to provide innovative, tailored solutions to global antitrust issues.
He advises on EU and international antitrust law, covering transactional and conduct matters as well as related litigation. Clients turn to Thomas for complex EU and global mandates, especially those requiring strategic management of cross-border challenges and parallel proceedings before several authorities. He brings international experience and perspective across all areas of antitrust risk and compliance in a wide range of industries. The nature of his work also involves leading teams of Freshfields lawyers and local counsel around the world.
Thomas speaks English, Dutch and French.
- Universal Music Group on the merger control aspects of its acquisition of Downtown Music recently approved by the European Commission following a Phase II investigation; the acquisition of a minority interest in Chord Music Partners from KKR; the acquisition of a majority interest in Mavin Global Holdings; and the acquisition of independent music company PIAS.
- Netflix in the context of its successful defence against an antitrust investigation by the Turkish Competition Authority which was closed on the basis of commitments.
- Meta on its successful appeal before the EU General Court against the European Commission’s designation of certain of its “core platform services” under the EU Digital Markets.
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise on the European and global merger control and foreign investment aspects of its acquisition of Juniper Networks.
- UniCredit on its proposed landmark cross-border merger involving the acquisition of Banco BPM which obtained conditional Phase I clearance from the European Commission.
- Novartis in its successful defence against parallel antitrust investigations carried out by the European Commission and the Swiss Competition Commission investigating whether the use of its IP rights constituted a “blocking patent” abuse of dominant position.
- Grieg Seafood and Bremnes Seashore in the context of the European Commission’s cartel investigation into alleged price-fixing of farm-raised Atlantic salmon.
- General Motors in the context of the European Commission’s and UK Competition and Markets Authority’s cartel investigations and settlements relating to alleged collusion in relation to end-of-life vehicles.
- STMicroelectronics on the merger control and state aid aspects of its agreement to create a new, jointly operated semiconductor manufacturing facility with GlobalFoundries based in France.
- Novartis on the global competition law aspects of its joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline to form a world-leading consumer healthcare business; the sale of its animal health division to Eli Lilly; its acquisition of Mariana Oncology; and its acquisition of MorphoSys.
- Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings on the European Commission’s Phase II investigation of its proposed acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
- Liberty Global’s subsidiary Telenet on the competition law aspects of its headline ‘fixed-to-mobile’ acquisition of Belgium’s third-largest mobile network operator, BASE, approved by the European Commission following a Phase II investigation.
- Boehringer Ingelheim on the global merger control aspects of its asset swap with Sanofi, which obtained Phase I approval by the European Commission.
- UCB on the multijurisdictional merger control aspects of the sale of its distribution business in a number of emerging markets to GSK; the sale of manufacturing sites in Germany and Italy to Aesica Pharmaceuticals; and the divestment of a mature product portfolio in China.
- EMI on the sale of its recorded music division to Vivendi and Universal Music, as well as the acquisition of its music publishing division by an investor group including Sony.
Thomas Janssens
Bastion Tower
Place du Champ de Mars/Marsveldplein 5
Brussels B-1050