About
Andreas is recognised as a leading EU competition and regulatory lawyer and leads our Brussels antitrust practice. With more than 25 years’ experience advising clients before the European Commission and other EU institutions, as well as competition and regulatory authorities across EU Member States, he has a deep understanding of EU policy priorities and decision‑making processes.
His practice covers the full spectrum of European competition law, including merger control and joint ventures, antitrust compliance and investigations into alleged anti‑competitive conduct, as well as competition litigation before the EU Courts. Andreas also stands out for his unique state aid experience. He advises clients across a broad range of sectors, including energy, industrials, and financial services. He has extensive experience supporting European banks and other financial institutions on the state aid aspects of privatisations and restructuring programmes arising from the global financial and sovereign debt crises. Andreas is widely regarded for his experience in complex tax‑related state aid investigations and subsequent litigation before the EU Courts.
Andreas is part of the leadership team overseeing Freshfields’ AI activities for the competition practice focusing on the development and implementation of AI/tech solutions to support the most efficient and effective delivery of our legal services.
Andreas works in German, English and French.
- DSV on the global merger control, FDI and FSR aspects of its proposed acquisition of Schenker.
- Norsk Hydro on the merger control aspects (including a Phase II by the European Commission) of its takeover of Norwegian aluminium company Alumetal; and of the reorganisation of its participation in Hydrovolt.
- MSC on the merger control, FDI and FSR aspects of the acquisition of joint control over Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft.
- A.P. Moeller-Maersk on the merger control aspects of the sale of its container production business; as well as on its acquisition of container line Hamburg-Süd.
- Deutsche Telekom and OTE on the merger control and related antitrust aspects of the sale of their 54% stake in Telekom Romania to Orange Romania.
- Deutsche Bank on the merger control and competition aspects of the Master Transaction Agreement for its Global Prime Finance business and its electronic equity trading business with BNP Paribas.
- Barclays Plc on merger control aspects in relation to the sale of its German consumer finance unit.
- Thyssenkrupp on various options in relation to the future of its European steel business, including possible government support measures for a transition to ‘green steel’ production and the use of hydrogen from renewable energy sources.
- AES Electric on the compatibility with EU state aid rules of a long-term power purchase agreement concluded with the Bulgarian national electricity company.
- Uniper on acquisition projects in the field of renewable energy and hydrogen from an EU state aid perspective.
- The German promotional bank KfW on the EU state aid, merger control, and FDI aspects of the stabilisation of the German gas market (following the Russia/Ukraine situation), including several liquidity and capital injections into gas operators.
- National Bank of Greece (NBG) on the merger control and state aid aspects of the divestment of its subsidiary Ethniki Insurance to CVC.
- Atlas Copco in their separate challenges of the European Commission’s tax related state aid recovery decisions before the European Courts.
Dr. Andreas von Bonin
Bastion Tower
Place du Champ de Mars/Marsveldplein 5