Overview
Bernd is a senior European competition lawyer, advising major national and international corporates, banks and institutions on all areas of competition and foreign direct investment laws, principally merger and anti-cartel related proceedings before the European Commission and national authorities, as well as unilateral conduct and state aid matters. He often coordinates merger control and foreign direct investment proceedings worldwide on global transactions. He has acted in a wide range of regulators in and outside Europe and conducted proceedings in English, French, German and Dutch.
Bernd is an experienced litigator and has represented clients in more than hundred cases before the General Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Bernd co-heads the firm’s global automotive sector team and is a professor for competition law at the College of Europe in Bruges.
Work highlights
Bernd has led or co-led on some of the most challenging global merger control and cartel cases, including securing merger control clearances in various jurisdictions for:
Aperam on its acquisition of ELG Haniel.
Greiner in relation to its acquisition and divestiture of Recticel (second phase).
Linde on its merger with Praxair (second phase) and several other acquisitions world-wide.
SABMiller on its combination with ABInBev.
Volkswagen on its acquisitions of MAN, Scania and Ducati.
Delhaize on its merger with Ahold.
- Saint-Gobain on its acquisition of SIKA.
- Vodafone, EE and O2 in relation to their mobile wallet joint venture (second phase).
He has also successfully intervened in merger control proceedings, such as Ball’s acquisition of Rexam.
His work on behavioural competition investigations includes representing:
A global bank in the investigations into precious metal and European Government Bond trading (the investigations against his clients were closed).
A manufacturer of car glass in the European Commission’s cartel investigation and subsequent litigation in the Court of the European Union (leading to a significant fine reduction) as well as in relation to private damage claims.
A global importer of bananas in the European Commission’s investigation in that sector and subsequent litigation up to the European Court of Justice (leading to a significant fine reduction) as well as on private damage claims.
A global pharmaceutical company in relation to investigation by the European Commission and national competition authorities.
A global manufacturer of semiconductors in relation to an investigation by the European Commission.
A global online retailer in relation to the forthcoming Digital Markets Act.
As a litigator, he has represented clients in more than hundred cases in the Courts of the European Union, including:
Country Of Admission