Antitrust & Competition

The Antitrust and Competition practice partners with clients to provide high quality, timely and practical advice to advance their business objectives. Our collaborative approach extends to how we work with each other, and with a network of corresponding firms in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world, to navigate more than 100 competition regimes worldwide. The team works together in a mutually-supportive fashion to assure our clients the best possible quality of client service.

From our defense of the Aluminum Co. of America, in what remains one of the most celebrated antitrust cases in US history, to many of today’ s largest matters such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and Auto Parts investigations, we continue to achieve desirable results across the full spectrum of antitrust work for our clients. We focus on identifying our clients’ optimal result and creating a plan to achieve it. Clients continue to rely on us for our deep experience, responsiveness, accessibility and results.

The team brings varied and extensive experience across a wide range of industries. We provide advice and representation in all five of the major enforcement areas, including:

Merger Clearance
Cartel Defense
Antitrust Litigation
Government Civil Investigations
Counseling

The group and its lawyers have been recognized by Chambers, The Legal 500 and Global Competition Review. The Legal 500 noted, “The group gives ‘sensible advice and the individuals are very familiar with the enforcement agencies.’” Team members have also been recognized for being ‘very smart, very strategic and very user-friendly’ and “utilizing the facts to the best benefit of his clients."

For more information on our Antitrust & Competition practice, please contact:

Philip A. Giordano

Chair

Transactional (Merger Control)

Representing Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. in obtaining Department of Justice approval for its proposed $10.6 billion acquisition of 21 Fox Regional Sports Networks from the Walt Disney Company.
Representing French media entrepreneur and art collector Patrick Drahi in securing antitrust clearance for the acquisition of global auction house Sotheby’s.
Representing Zoetis in securing antitrust clearance for its proposed acquisition of Platinum Performance, a nutrition focused animal health business.
Representing Cartamundi in securing clearance for its proposed acquisition of United States Playing Card Company, manufacturer of the Bicycle brand of playing cards.
Representing Republic Airlines in securing antitrust clearance for its proposed Chapter 11 reorganization, which involved the acquisition of a majority interest in Republic by its three code share partners, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Airlines.
Successfully represented Unimin Corporation in its $3 billion merger with Fairmount Santrol to create Covia Holdings Corporation, the leading producer of frac sand and industrial sand in the United States. The parties pulled their initial Hart-Scott-Rodino filing and refiled it to give the Department of Justice additional time to review the transaction, and the Department allowed the deal to close without issuing a second request.
Representing MediaNews Group Digital First Media when it won court approval to buy bankrupt newspaper publisher Freedom Communications after the government blocked a sale to the higher-bidding Tribune Publishing in a bankruptcy auction.
Representing an Indian generic pharmaceutical manufacturer, Claris Ltd., in seeking FTC clearance for its pending $625 million acquisition by Baxter International.
Representing Brambles in securing antitrust clearance in the U.S., EU, and Australia for the combination of its energy container businesses with U.S.-based Hoover Container Solutions in a joint venture that will be the world's second-largest provider of energy and chemicals storage units.
Representing Merck in securing antitrust clearance for its $3.8 billion acquisition of Idenix Pharmaceuticals.
Representing Sinclair Broadcast Group in securing antitrust clearance from the Justice Department for several recent acquisitions, including its $965 million acquisition of 7 television stations from Allbritton Communications.
Representing ONEOK in its $800 million acquisition from Chevron of two natural gas liquids pipelines transporting NGLs from the Permian Basin to Mont Belvieu, Texas.

Cartel Defense

Representing a leading Japanese manufacturer of ceramic substrates for automotive catalytic converters in negotiating a guilty plea in a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal grand jury investigation of price fixing and bid rigging with one of the largest downward departures ever.
Representing a high-level executive of a Japanese capacitor manufacturer in a DOJ cartel investigation and obtaining a non-prosecution agreement for him.
Representing a U.S. pharmaceutical company facing a DOJ antitrust cartel investigation in the generic pharmaceutical industry.
Leading the defense of a multinational financial services company facing a cartel investigation by the DOJ, European Commission and other regulators.

Government Civil Investigations and Private Antitrust Litigation

Representing a director of United Airlines in In re Domestic Airline Travel Antitrust Litigation, a class action alleging that the major U.S. airlines conspired with each other to limit capacity.
Representing Portigon and WestdeutschImmobilien Bank in LIBOR-based financial instruments antitrust litigation where the defendants allegedly colluded to manipulate the U.S. Dollar LIBOR rate, influencing prices in the markets for LIBOR-based instruments.
Successfully defending MediaNews Group Digital First Media in a private antitrust lawsuit challenging the restructuring of a newspaper joint operating agreement in Salt Lake City and representing the company in a related Justice Department civil investigation.
Representing Cantor Fitzgerald in more than 40 putative class action lawsuits filed against all 22 primary dealers alleging a conspiracy to manipulate the $12.7 trillion U.S. Treasury market.
Representing Macquarie in two civil class actions alleging global banks manipulated various financial benchmark rates: the Singapore Offered Rate (SIBOR) and the Singapore Swap Offer Rate (SOR), and the Australian Bank Bill Swap Reference Rate (BBSW).

Philip A. Giordano

Chair