Todor Papanov is a senior associate with Van Bael & Bellis based in their London office. He advises on a wide range of competition law matters, including investigations and competition law compliance, merger control under both the UK and the EU competition regimes and the application of competition law to commercial agreements and trading practices. In addition, Todor has advised a variety of UK and international clients on issues, such as State aid, export controls and sanctions. Todor also has experience in competition litigation, representing both claimants and defendants. Prior to joining Van Bael & Bellis, Todor worked in the London offices of two leading international law firms.
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On 16 November 2022, the UK Secretary of State responsible for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) effectively blocked another transaction in the semiconductor industry under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “NSI Act”). Nexperia, ultimately owned by Wingtech (...)
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Long awaited developments over the summer provided some appreciable clarity on the refreshed UK distribution regime (following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU). In particular, pursuant to a consultation process that ran almost in parallel to the equivalent EU process, and also adopting the (...)
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On 30 November 2021, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) concluded its Phase 2 investigation into Meta’s completed acquisition of Giphy (which closed in May 2020), ordering Meta to reverse the deal and sell Giphy to a CMA-approved purchaser (for further details, see VBB on (...)
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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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At the start of November, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) issued a Recommendation to the Secretary of State with respect to the terms of a new UK-specific Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order (“VABEO”) that would apply as of 1 June 2022. The VABEO would replace the (...)
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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 (...)
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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 (...)
