Mastering Competition Challenges

Key Focus Areas

• We provide our clients with all-round advice on structuring cooperative partnerships during recessions to ensure that they comply with antitrust and competition law. Examples include:
  • jointly procuring input materials or energy in response to increased raw material prices;
  • engaging in joint marketing and sales to save costs and offer a wider range of products and services;
  • collaborating on R&D into new technologies in changing markets;
  • supplying each other with products or services in critical situations; or
  • cooperating on sustainability matters.
• We also advise companies on ending forms of partnership entered into between companies (who are actually competitors) in times of recession and crisis that are questionable from an antitrust perspective. These may include agreements entered into by overenthusiastic employees without obtaining advice beforehand for example. Areas covered include internal investigations, ending collaborative relationships, submitting leniency applications and cooperating with competition authorities.
• In M&A transactions where time is of the essence, we make sure that any antitrust and investment control clearance is obtained quickly.
• We provide our clients with in-depth advice on digital antitrust law and the antitrust and competition aspects of their digital transformation (such as the DMA and section 19a of the German Competition Act). One key aspect is helping them to design innovative business models in line with competition and antitrust law and against the backdrop of national and European rules affecting large platforms and gatekeepers.
• We also advise our clients on developing and implementing funding measures in compliance with State aid law. The topics we cover include privatisation and de-privatisation, research and development, digitalisation, rescue and restructuring measures, energy supplies, the EU Green Deal and decarbonisation. We also help submit State aid notifications to the European Commission, file complaints under State aid law and conduct court proceedings.