Eric Paroche
Hogan Lovells (Paris)
Lawyer (Partner)
Eric Paroche leads the Paris office’s Antitrust, Competition and Economic Regulation practice. Through his past experience at the European Commission and his diverse practice in many industry sectors, Eric is able to look at issues from all angles and to put forward workable solutions. He provides strategic advice to companies on managing merger control constraints and assists them in their filings with the European Commission, the French Competition Authority and other authorities worldwide. Eric also advises companies in antitrust proceedings before the European Commission and the French Competition Authority, and represents them before the European and French Courts. In particular, Eric helps management teams define the most appropriate strategies to minimize financial and reputational risks in cases of alleged infringements. In State aids, clients benefit from his in-depth knowledge of the European Commission’s practice. Eric lectures on competition law at Sciences Po.
Distinctions
Linked authors
Alfredo Gómez Álvarez
Hogan Lovells (Madrid)
Erin Anderson
Hogan Lovells (London)
David Antón
Hogan Lovells (Madrid)
Telha Arshad
Hogan Lovells (London)
Robert F. Baldwin
Hogan Lovells (Washington)
5861 | Conferences
Articles
1758 Bulletin
398
The first State aid measures authorized by the European Commission (Commission) following the COVID-19 outbreak were aimed at helping companies to cover their immediate liquidity needs, mainly through bank loans guaranteed by EU Member States. The significant losses incurred by companies as a (...)
410
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the European economy with brute force. Many businesses are facing drastic declines in revenues and are in urgent need of liquidity. Some have imposed temporary lay-offs or even face insolvency. The European Commission and most EU member states as well as the UK, (...)
110
The current COVID-19 pandemic is posing unprecedented challenges on our public health systems and communities. It is also heavily impacting economic activity, including for companies in the midst of M&A or joint venture transactions. Deals that are subject to merger control review in the (...)
90
This article has been nominated for the 2020 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. Digital ubiquity, and the resulting rules, do not only concern tech giants. To the contrary, digital regulation is relevant for companies in all market sectors (...)
395
Highest fine ever for gun-jumping* On 8 November 2016, the French Competition Authority (FCA) fined French-based Altice group and its telecommunications subsidiary SFR 80 million euros for the coordination of their commercial behaviour in the period between the acceptance of Altice’s purchase (...)
355
This article was first published in Concurrences Review N° 2-2017, Art. N° 83875, pp. 231-239 I. Introduction In November 2016, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) fined French-based Altice/Numericable group and its recently-acquired telecom subsidiaries SFR and Virgin Mobile France for (...)
4028 Review
73
In Decision No. 19-DCC-157 of August 12, 2019 [the " Salto Decision"], the French Competition Authority had validated, subject to conditions, the creation by the TF1, M6 and France Télévisions groups of Salto, a full-function joint venture. Context and procedure Salto is active in the (...)
77
The Illumina/Grail (Case M.10188) saga continues before the European Commission [the “Commission”] and the General Court with fierce confrontation in relation to jurisdictional issues and standstill obligation. This transaction was already set to become an unprecedented case as it is the first (...)
55
Commitments - Telecommunications: The French Competition Authority authorizes, subject to conditions, an acquisition in the sector of the operation of passive mobile telecommunications infrastructures (Aut. conc., dec. n° 21-DCC-197 of October 25, 2021 relating to the acquisition of exclusive (...)
91
Although authorized after an unconditional phase 1 review, Vivendi ’s acquisition of the magazine group Prisma Media has given rise to interesting developments in a sector characterized by ever-increasing convergence between the various advertising markets, which involves the development of (...)
143
On 26 March 2021, the European Commission [the "Commission"] published its guidance on merger referrals under Article 22 of Regulation 139/2004 [the "Merger Regulation"]. Contrary to its past practice, the Commission now accepts to review referrals for which neither the national nor the (...)
102
The LDC group is one of the main French players in the poultry slaughtering sector and the marketing of poultry meat and products made from poultry meat. It markets its products under the Le Gaulois, Marie, Loué and Maître Coq brands. Context elements The transaction in question concerns the (...)
99
In March 2021, announcement that the European Commission [the “Commission”] would review its assessment of referrals under Article 22 of Regulation n° 139/2004 [the “Merger Regulation”] has attracted much attention from practitioners and academics. Under this new approach, the Commission will (...)
171
The acquisition of the 554 Leader Price stores and 2 Casino stores by Aldi [the "Operation"] was first notified to the European Commission before being referred, at the request of the notifying party, to the Competition Authority ([the "Authority"] on 4 June 2020. Context elements In view of (...)
301
Case law on merger control is all the more scrutinised as litigation is rare. However, the year 2020 has enabled the Court of First Instance to rule on several occasions on the application of Regulation 139/2004 by the European Commission in prohibition decisions. In particular, by the CK (...)
133
On April 25th, 2020, Boeing and Embraer announced that they abandoned their planned partnership which had a long stop date of April 24th, 2020. The partnership consisted in the creation of two joint ventures: (i) a first joint venture solely controlled by Boeing covering Embraer’s commercial (...)
148
The Commission has recently decided on two transactions in the pharmaceutical sector, both of which have been cleared subject to divestitures: the acquisition of Allergan by Abbvie and the acquisition of Pfizer’s consumer health division by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Although they concern very (...)
234
In the context of the acquisition of sole control of Darty by Fnac, which was authorised by the French Competition Authority by a decision of 27 July 2016Fnac had undertaken to sell six stores in Paris and the Paris region before 1 August 2017. However, for three of these stores, namely the (...)
153
On 1 October 2019, the European Commission authorised the merger between two global manufacturers of flat-rolled aluminium products: Novelis, the US subsidiary of the Indian group Hindalco, and Aleris, a US group also specialising in the production of semi-finished aluminium products. Both have (...)
725
Warehousing – or portage – transactions, which consist in parking the target with an interim buyer in view of its onward sale to the ultimate acquirer, are no exceptions to the prohibition of gun jumping: this is, in a nutshell, the conclusion drawn by the European Commission in its decision of (...)
225
In January 2017, the State published a call for tenders for the operation of CDG Express, the future direct rail link between Paris (Gare de l’Est station) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, for a period of 15 years. In November 2018, the State awarded the service concession to the consortium (...)
171
On November 7, 2018, the Commission approved a concentration whereby the two German car manufacturers Daimler and BMW planned to pool their mobility service businesses, including in particular their car sharing services. The two German car makers’ project consists in the creation of six (...)
190
On 4 May 2018, the European Commission approved the acquisition by United Technologies Corporation (’UTC’) of the whole of Rockwell Collins, after a phase I investigation but subject to important structural remedies. UTC is a provider of high-technology products and services for the building and (...)
937
The Altice/Numericable decision from the French Competition Authority is striking in two respects: it is the highest fine (€80 million) ever imposed by a competition authority for gun jumping and one of the very first decisions in Europe to outline the rules applicable to the acquirer and a (...)
