Marc Freedman focuses on UK and EU competition law. Marc’s practice includes advising clients on UK, EU and multi-jurisdictional merger control, foreign direct investment screening, antitrust investigations, abuse of dominance, market studies and market investigations. His experience spans a wide range of sectors, including financial services, food and drink, automotive, basic industries, pharmaceuticals and media. Marc has particular expertise in relation to UK merger control, having recently completed a year-long secondment to the Phase 1 Mergers team of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). During his secondment, Marc worked on a number of complex and high-profile CMA merger investigations, including: FNZ/GBST; Breedon/Cemex; ION/Broadway; and DMG Media/JPIMedia Publications (which was the subject of a PIIN from the Secretary of State for DCMS). Prior to joining Van Bael & Bellis, Marc worked as a competition associate in the London office of a leading UK law firm.
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On 16 June 2022, the UK Government published its first – and slightly misleadingly titled – annual report (the “Report”) in relation to the operation of the National Security and Investment Act (the “NSI Act”). The Report summarises the functioning of the extremely wide-ranging UK foreign direct (...)
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Introduction On 29 March 2022, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) announced that – following an in-depth, Phase 2 investigation – it had prohibited the proposed merger between Cargotec and Konecranes. The CMA noted that it was not satisfied with the remedies package proposed by the (...)
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On 27 January 2022, the Commission conditionally cleared Meta’s (formerly Facebook) acquisition of Kustomer, a small, innovative customer relationship manager (“CRM”) software creator. In a parallel process, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) cleared the same transaction with regard to Germany (...)
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On 20 December 2021, the UK government published an open letter to businesses providing more clarity on its upcoming national security and investment regime. The new legal framework, which the UK government calls “the biggest shake-up in 20 years of the UK’s system for screening investments”, (...)
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On 5 November 2021, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) published its final remittal report into the completed acquisition by sports-inspired casual footwear and apparel retailer JD Sports (“JD”) of rival Footasylum, deciding (once again) to block the transaction. This is the latest (...)
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On 20 October 2021, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) announced its decision to impose a record-breaking fine of £ 50.5 million on Facebook, for multiple (and serious) breaches of an Interim Enforcement Order (“IEO”) imposed as part of the CMA’s investigation into the tech company’s (...)
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Introduction On 17 June 2021, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) published an eagerly anticipated consultation document outlining its proposed recommendations to the Secretary of State (i.e., the relevant government minister) on the future of the retained vertical agreements block (...)
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On 21 May 2021, the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) unanimously dismissed an appeal by aviation technology and software supplier Sabre against the decision of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) to block its acquisition of travel industry software innovator Farelogix. Sabre’s (...)
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On 10 March 2021 and 18 March 2021 respectively, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) announced that it had secured the disqualification of five company directors, after finding that they had infringed competition law by forming cartels in the construction industry, following two (...)
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Introduction On 16 February 2021, Conservative member of Parliament (“MP”) John Penrose published his much-anticipated independent report on how the UK’s competition regime can evolve and improve, within the context of economic recovery from Covid-19 and the end of the Brexit transition period. (...)
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On 10 February 2021, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) launched a consultation on the future of the UK competition rules applicable to vertical agreements. Following Brexit, the EU block exemption regulations which were in force at the end of the transition period (i.e., on 31 (...)
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On 3 February 2021, the UK Government started a consultation process regarding the UK’s future subsidy regime, which will be entirely separate from the existing EU state aid framework. Following the conclusion of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the “TCA”) and the end of the Brexit (...)
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On 2 February 2021, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) published its final report following a Phase 2 investigation of the completed acquisition by the ticket reseller viagogo of competitor StubHub (previously part of eBay Inc.). The $4.1 billion (£3.1 billion) transaction was (...)
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On 27 January 2021, the Court of Justice dismissed in its entirety an appeal by the Goldman Sachs Group (“Goldman Sachs”) against a General Court judgment upholding a European Commission’s decision finding Goldman Sachs jointly and severally liable for the conduct of its subsidiary, Prysmian SpA (...)
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The Trade Cooperation Agreement (the “TCA”) includes various provisions regulating EU and UK competition law enforcement and cooperation, which became effective as of 1 January 2021. Competition law and merger control The TCA provides for a mutual commitment from the UK and the EU to maintain (...)
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