Expertise - EU & Competition

Our EU and Competition Department provides pragmatic advice and effective representation on all aspects of EU and UK competition law.

We have recognised expertise in advising on the competition and regulatory implications of mergers and acquisitions, as well as the full range of behavioural competition matters (abuse of dominance, cartels and other restrictive agreements).  In addition to advising clients on EU and UK competition law, we regularly co-ordinate the provision of competition law advice to clients in respect of other key jurisdictions around the world in conjunction with our carefully selected leading overseas law firms.   We also advise on other EU law matters, such as state aid and public procurement, and on utilities regulation. 




Knowledge of the relevant competition legislation and case law is important, but so too is an awareness of our clients´ commercial objectives and a familiarity with the approach of the various regulators.  We provide pragmatic and constructive advice based on a proper assessment of legal risk against the achievement of our clients´ commercial objectives.  We maintain strong relationships with the various EU and UK regulators and are able to advise on what is and what is not achievable in practice with each regulator.

Our recent work includes acting for:

• The major newsagent chain, TM Retail Limited, in respect of the OFT investigation into pricing practices in the tobacco sector and its early resolution agreement with the OFT (UK)
• Red Bee Media in respect of an Ofcom competition law investigation into customer contracts with the BBC and Channel 4 and in respect of an appeal by the complainant of the subsequent Ofcom decisions to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (UK)
• Macquarie on the acquisition of BBC Broadcast, now Red Bee Media (UK)
• Pace Micro on its acquisition of the international set top box and connectivity solutions business of Philips (multi-jurisdictional)
• the University of Surrey on the merger control aspects of the sale of its subsidiary, Surrey Satellite Technology, which specialises in the design and manufacture of small and micro satellites, to EADS Astrium (EU)
• Abbey in respect of the Competition Commission market investigation into Northern Irish personal banking (UK)
• Gala Coral on a number of competition related matters, including the settlement of the Turf TV litigation which involved a number of the UK´s leading racecourses (UK)
• Bridgepoint on the acquisition of Pret A Manger (EU)

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