George is an associate in our Antitrust, Competition and Trade practice group. He advises clients on all aspects of EU and UK competition law. George’s experience spans merger control reviews and remedy negotiations, compliance with hold separate orders, market investigations, managing antitrust risk and competition law compliance, as well as FDI and national security reviews.
George advises clients across a range of industries, including retail and consumer products, financial institutions and exchanges, financial sponsors and private equity, technology, and energy & industrials sectors.
George’s highlights include advising on multiple high-profile and complex merger control investigations in the UK and EU, including advising on the first parallel Phase 2 referral in the UK and EU and separately on one of the first cases to follow the UK CMA’s new Phase 2 review process. George has particular experience of advising clients through complex remedy processes, including a successful ‘reconstitution’ remedy before the UK CMA at Phase 1.
George advises on compliance with hold separate orders and has supported interested third-parties in their interventions into merger control reviews. George also advises clients in relation to antitrust risk profiling and horizon scanning and has provided counselling on discrete compliance challenges, including Article 101 and 102 (and equivalent UK legislation).
George trained with Freshfields and is based in London. During his time at Freshfields he has spent time on secondment to Apple.
George's experience includes advising:
Merger control
- GXO Logistics, the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics provider, in relation to the merger control aspects of its £727m acquisition of Wincanton plc before the CMA, which was cleared at Phase 2 with conditions.
- Medivet and CVC Capital Partners in relation to the CMA’s merger control investigations into 17 completed acquisitions by Medivet, ultimately assuaging the CMA’s concerns in respect of 6 completed acquisitions and successfully divesting of a number of acquired practices (including the delivery of a “clear cut” reconstitution remedy at Phase 1).
- Cargotec Corporation on its proposed merger with Konecranes in the cargo handling industry to create a combined group with sales of €7bn, involving the first parallel Phase 2 review of a transaction by the CMA and the EC, subsequently abandoned after the CMA issued a prohibition decision rejecting the remedy proposal which had been accepted by the EC.
- The London Stock Exchange Group on its successful US$27bn transformational acquisition of Refinitiv, a financial information, data, and analytics provider which required merger control reviews by 20 antitrust authorities worldwide, including a Phase 2 review in the EU before the EC.
- The London Stock Exchange Group before the CMA on its successful acquisition of Acadia, a leading provider of automated uncleared margin processing and integrated risk and optimisation services for the global derivatives community.
- The RELX Group on the merger control and foreign investment aspects of multiple strategic transactions for its Legal and Risk business divisions.
- A multinational technology company on its successful acquisition of a credit analytics fintech company before the CMA, and additionally on other strategic acquisitions in the high-tech sectors.
- Entain plc on its CA$300m acquisition of Avid Gaming, the owner of the Sports Interaction brand, and on a number of further strategic acquisitions to drive Entain's growth strategy.
Market studies and investigations
- Medivet and CVC Capital Partners in relation to the CMA’s market investigation into the provision of veterinary services for household pets in the UK.
Digital regulation
- A multinational digital technology company on the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), including its ongoing global compliance preparation with the DMA.
Interventions in merger control processes
- A third party on its interventions in the parallel phase 2 reviews by the CMA and the European Commission in relation to the proposed US$40b acquisition by NVIDIA of Arm, which was subsequently abandoned by the parties following regulatory difficulties.
- A third party on its interventions in the parallel phase 2 reviews by the CMA and the European Commission in relation to the acquisition by Broadcom of VMware, which required the parties to provide a technology access remedy to preserve interoperability.
Competition advisory, risk mitigation, and antitrust compliance
- Multiple clients in the consumer and retail sectors in relation to supply chain arrangements and competition risk.
- A global technology company on various competition matters.
100 Bishopsgate