European Competition

Sullivan & Cromwell’s European competition team works on a wide range of challenging assignments, including merger clearance and all other aspects of European competition law.

Recent highlights include representations of:

• Abiomed in relation to its $17.1 billion acquisition by Johnson & Johnson
• Adecco Group in relation to its €2 billion business combination with AKKA Technologies, including on multi-jurisdictional FDI filings
• Advance on its subsidiary Turnitin LLC’s acquisition of Ouriginal AS

• Advent/Centerbridge in relation to the joint investment in Aareal Bank, valuing Aareal Bank at €1.74 billion
• AIG on the European Commission’s investigation into the provision of aviation insurance. The commission closed the investigation on the basis of a settlement package and without finding infringement. S&C, although retained by AIG, acted as lead counsel for the London aviation insurers in the settlement discussions with the commission
• Amgen on numerous transactions, including its $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics
• AXA on European competition law aspects of the formation of the cross-industry Net Zero Insurance Alliance
• Barclays in the EU Commission’s FOREX cartel investigation
• Baxter International in the divestment of its BioPharma Solutions business to Advent International and Warburg Pincus
• Bayer on its acquisition of Monsanto for $66 billion in cash
• BHP Group in its all-stock merger of its oil and gas portfolio with Woodside Energy Group Limited
• Biohaven Pharmaceutical on various transactions, including in its $11.6 billion acquisition by Pfizer
• BMW in relation to its EU litigation before the European courts against the European Commission’s electric car state aid decision
• BNP Paribas on its $16.3 billion sale of Bank of the West, its U.S. retail and commercial banking business, to BMO Financial Group
• Bosch in its acquisition of a 12% minority share in Husqvarna
• Calisen on its merger with MapleCo
• Chevron in various competition matters, including in relation to the acquisition of Neste Oy’s base oil business and the sale of certain North Sea assets
• Chubb on its $5.75 billion acquisition of Cigna’s A&H and life insurance business in Asia-Pacific
• Credit Suisse on its $3.3 billion merger with UBS
• Delivery Hero on various transactions, including in its $1 billion sale of its German food delivery business to Takeaway.com
• Deutsche Wohnen on its €19 billion acquisition by Vonovia
• e& in its (i) acquisition of a 15% stake in Vodafone Group Plc and the entry into a relationship agreement with Vodafone providing for board representation as the largest shareholder and (ii) acquisition of a passive 9.8% stake in Vodafone Group Plc for $4.4 billion, becoming Vodafone’s largest shareholder
• e& on competition, FDI and Foreign Subsidies Regulation aspects of its acquisition of PPF Telecom Group
• Fiat on its acquisition of Chrysler. S&C advised on all competition law aspects of the transaction, which had a novel and complex structure and brought together two companies with operations throughout the world. The Firm’s work involved representing Fiat before the European Commission and U.S. antitrust authorities and coordinating merger clearances in a large number of jurisdictions
• Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on its $60 billion merger with Peugeot to create new company, Stellantis N.V. and in relation to the divestment of its cast iron component business to Tupy S.A
• Fiat Chrysler Finance Europe in the EU state aid investigation regarding Luxembourg tax
• Goldman Sachs and Goldman Sachs’ Asset Management Division on numerous investments, acquisitions and disposals in Europe, Asia and the U.S.
• Harris Corp. on its $35 billion merger with L3 Technologies (largest-ever defense industry merger)
• home24 in relation to its voluntary public takeover by Austrian-based furniture retail company XXXLutz
• Iveco and parent company CNH International on the European Commission’s landmark Trucks Cartel Investigation and subsequent settlement
• K+S on the full range of competition matters, including on the $3.2 billion sale of its Americas salt business to Stone Canyon and the creation of its waste management joint venture with Remondis
• Kering in relation to its acquisitions of Maui Jim and Creed
• L3Harris Technologies in its acquisition of Viasat's Tactical Data Links business for approximately $1.96 billion
• Majorel (owned by Bertelsmann and Saham) in relation to (i) its voluntary public takeover by Teleperformance and (ii) its later abandoned merger with Sitel
• Morgan Crucible on two cartel investigations by the European Commission, wherein S&C secured in both cases full indemnity from fines under the European Commission’s leniency program
• Praxair on its $80 billion merger-of-equals with Linde, involving clearance in over 20 jurisdictions
• Rio Tinto in its $3.3 billion acquisition of Turquoise Hill Resources
• Seagen Inc. in its $43 billion acquisition by Pfizer Inc.
• Silver Lake Partners regularly in relation to transactions and also investigations concerning their portfolio companies
• Softbank in the $5.23 billion IPO of Arm Holdings plc and its listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market
• Technicolor in relation to the European Commission’s investigation into conduct by producers of cathode ray tubes used in televisions and computer screens
• Tiffany & Co. on its $16 billion acquisition by LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE
• VMware in connection with its controversial $69 billion acquisition by Broadcom
• Clients in numerous high-risk EU and German unilateral conduct matters including Airbnb, Amadeus, Air France, AT&T, Dolby, Intel, K+S, Live Nation, Sisvel, Spotify, Symantec and YouTube
• Clients in numerous EU and German cartel matters, including investigations related to baby food, bathroom products, biofuels, block trains, capacitors, de-icing salt, elevators, ethanol benchmarks, fashion, forex, motor insurance, ODD, oil, and VAT refund