Competition M&A
Examples of our recent work include:
Air Liquide
Acting for Air Liquide, one of the leading global industrial gases companies, in objecting to the creation of a joint venture which affected its CO2 business. We succeeded in obtaining an unusual remedy from the Competition Commission as it specifically benefits Air Liquide rather than other market participants.
Durrants
Acting for Durrants on its acquisition, from a listed Swedish company, of one of its leading competitors in the UK press cuttings industry.
John Wiley & Sons
Acting on the £650m acquisition by John Wiley & Sons of the competing book and journal publishing interests of Blackwells, a case that required clearance in a number of jurisdictions.
Kingspan Group plc
Advising Kingspan Group plc on the competition aspects of its €120m acquisition of CRH Insulation Europe, a division of CRH plc. The deal received clearance from the OFT on 21 March 2011, having previously been cleared in Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. The UK was the only jurisdiction in which the parties' activities overlapped with the deal creating the largest supplier of rigid foam insulation in the UK yet, after three months of detailed investigation, the Macfarlanes team secured unconditional clearance from the OFT.
Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd
Advising Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd, alongside Paul Weiss, on its $1.6bn acquisition of Lucite International. With reference to certain complex remedies previously used in Europe (but never before in China), we were instrumental in securing one of the first conditional clearances of merger subject to the new Chinese merger rules.
Oaktree
Representing Oaktree on a number of cases before the European Commission, including the acquisition of Sara Lee’s European processed meats business, which was merged with Oaktree’s competing operations.
Pernod Ricard
Acting for Pernod Ricard on a number of major international acquisitions, most recently on its purchase of Vin & Sprit (owner of Absolut vodka) from the Swedish government. All these cases required significant remedies and we co-ordinated the merger filings across numerous jurisdictions.
Virgin
Acting for Virgin in successfully opposing BSkyB’s acquisition of a 17.9 per cent stake in ITV, and being instrumental in securing the first ever “media public interest intervention notice” from the Secretary of State. BSkyB has been forced to reduce its stake to below 7.5 per cent at a significant loss.
Related practice areas
"This firm handles the full range of competition law issues and provides a quality, partner-led service."
Chambers UK 2011