Merger Control & Foreign Direct Investment
- Amgen on its $28.3 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics
- Biohaven Pharmaceutical on its $11.6 billion acquisition by Pfizer
- Bosch on its acquisition of a minority share in Swedish Husqvarna
- Chevron on the full range of competition matters, including in relation to the acquisition of Neste Oy’s base oil business and the sale of certain North Sea assets
- Delivery Hero in relation to the $1 billion sale of its German food delivery business to Takeaway.com
- Deutsche Wohnen on its $19 billion acquisition by Vonovia
- Harris Corp. on its $35 billion merger with L3 Technologies
- home24 in relation to its voluntary public takeover by Austrian-based furniture retail company XXXLutz
- Kering in relation to its acquisitions of Maui Jim and Creed
- K+S on the full range of competition mattes, including on the $3.2 billion sale of its American salt business and the creation of its waste management joint venture with Remondis
- Majorel (owned by Bertelsmann and Saham) in connection with the voluntary public takeover by Teleperformance and the (abandoned) merger with Sitel
- Schaeffler on the full range of competition matters, including in relation to the Vitesco restructuring
- Seagen on its $43 billion acquisition by Pfizer
- Tiffany & Co. on its $16 billion acquisition by LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton
- VMware (and its co-owner Silver Lake) on the merger control and FDI aspects of its $69 billion acquisition by Broadcom
Abuse of dominance
Michael and his team advise clients on unilateral conduct issues under Article 102 TFEU, including counseling clients that may be found to hold a dominant position, defending targets of investigations and representing complainants in such investigations (including Airbnb, Amadeus, Air France, AT&T, Dell, Dolby, Intel, K+S AG, Live Nation, Sisvel, Spotify, Symantec, Tyco and YouTube).
Cartel Investigations
Michael and his team advise clients at all stages of cartel investigations, with particular focus on complex leniency cases before the European Commission and subsequent EU and national follow-on litigation (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).
Litigation
Michael regularly represents clients in antitrust-based national litigation matters in the major Member States, including for Mylan in relation to its Lundbeck follow-on litigation, and also has significant experience before the European courts in relation to EU litigation which results from investigations before the European Commission, including for BMW in relation to the EC’s electric car state aid decision.
Speaking Engagements
- Speaker, Global Competition Review Live’s Law Leaders Global (Miami), “Convergence or Divergence Across the Atlantic and Over the Channel” (2024)