Renata B. Hesse

Ms. Hesse counsels some of the world’s biggest companies on a range of high-stakes antitrust matters. Most recently, she advised:

• Amazon on its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market;
• Amgen in its $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc, including in resolving litigation brought by the Federal Trade Commission challenging the transaction;
• Amgen Inc. in its $1.9 billion acquisition of Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc.;
• Amgen in its $13.4 billion acquisition of Otezla from Celgene;
• Baxter International Inc. on its $10.5 billion acquisition of Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.;

• Canadian Pacific Railways Limited (CP) in its $31 billion deal to acquire Kansas City Southern, defeating a competing bid by Canadian National. Renata was part of the S&C team that successfully persuaded the Surface Transportation Board—an agency that oversees competition in the freight rail industry—to allow CP to use a voting trust, a key component of CP’s successful bid;
• Fiserv, Inc. in its $22 billion acquisition of First Data Corporation;
• Guardant Health in connection with Illumina’s $8 billion acquisition of GRAIL;
• Integra LifeSciences in its acquisition of ACell for up to $400 million;
• Merck KGaA on its $6.5 billion acquisition of Versum Materials;
• Novartis in its $9.7 billion acquisition of The Medicines Company;
• Parkland Corporation in its acquisition of Conrad & Bischoff and its related companies;
• Praxair, Inc. in its $80 billion merger of equals with Linde AG;
• Royal Philips in its acquisitions of BioTelemetry and of the Healthcare Information Systems business of Carestream Health;
• Tenaris S.A. in its $1.2 billion acquisition of IPSCO Tubulars, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of PAO TMK, a Russian company;
• Tiffany & Co. in its acquisition by LVMH Moet Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE for approximately $16 billion;
• Uber Freight in its $2.25 billion acquisition of Transplace;
• Multiple clients on the implications of potential “no-poach” agreements, including providing assessments of and advice on conduct that could implicate the antitrust laws;
• A large industrial company based in Latin America on confidential criminal antitrust matters; and
• Volkswagen in a Department of Justice investigation into four automakers that had sided with California in its dispute with the federal government over reducing climate-warming vehicle pollution. In February 2020, the DOJ dropped its investigation, finding that the companies had violated no laws.

Speaking Engagements

• “The Role of Competition Policy in Mediating the Crisis,” University of Colorado Silicon Flatirons’ Internet’s Midlife Crisis Conference (February 2023)
• “The Role of Antitrust Policies in SEP Licensing Disputes,” RPX Spring Conference (May 2022)
• “IP and Antitrust: How Do They Work Together Today?” Fordham Law School Intellectual Property Law and Policy Conference (April 2022)
• “Tackling Antitrust: How to Operate in an Evolving Regulatory Environment,” TechGC M&A Conference 2022 (March 2022)