Overview
Annamaria is a senior competition lawyer with considerable experience representing clients in international merger control, FDI, cartel investigations and litigation matters in a wide range of industries, with a focus on the energy, financial sponsors, healthcare, telecommunications and FMG sectors. She has acted before a wide range of regulators in and outside Europe, and conducted proceedings in English, French and Italian.
She co-heads the firmwide Global Healthcare Sector, spearheading client initiatives and more widely the direction of travel of the Firm.
Praised for her “outstanding communication and client-handling abilities”, Annamaria was ranked among the “40 under 40” top antitrust practitioners worldwide (Global Competition Review) and as one of the top female M&A lawyers in EMEA.
In 2017, she was seconded for three months to a major client as acting general counsel for competition, providing strategic advice, and leading a team of competition lawyers in a wide range of business-critical matters.
Work Highlights
Annamaria has led or co-led on some of the most challenging global transactions, including securing merger control clearances and FDI authorisations in various jurisdictions for:
- Cerberus on the sale of its controlling interests in Worldwide Flight Services to SATS, a Temasek’s group company
- Johnson & Johnson in obtaining merger control clearances (ex-US) for its $16.6bn acquisition of Abiomed
- Vodafone on the acquisition of joint control over INWIT, conditionally cleared by the European Commission in Phase I
- Novartis on its strategic asset swap with GSK, involving obtaining Phase I clearance for its $16bn acquisition of GSK’s oncology unit subject to a set of very innovative remedies (GCR Matter of the Year, FT Innovative Lawyers’ Award)
- Intel Corporation on its US$17bn acquisition of Altera's field-programmable gate array technology
- Eni on global merger control issues resulting from its US$2.8bn sale of its 25% stake in Mozambique liquefied natural gas project
- Vodafone on the Phase II investigation in relation to its standalone m-commerce JV with Telefonica and Everything Everywhere
- British American Tobacco in its 2008 acquisition of Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni, conditionally cleared in Phase I
Her work on behavioural competition and litigation includes representing and assisting:
- Vodafone before the General Court in Luxembourg to defend the validity of a European Commission’s merger clearance decision
- the immunity applicant in the auto-part cartel before the European Commission and in all subsequent related damages claims in Europe, in what has been cited as the “largest cartel investigation in history”
- a global financial institution on the European Commission’s power cables investigation and subsequent appeal to the European Courts in relation to issues around parent company liability
- a large global tech player on compliance with the European Commission’s decision finding an infringement of Article 102 (abuse of dominance)
- a major FMG manufacturer on global antitrust matters, ranging from abuse of dominance to distribution questions and global merger control issues
- a European cosmetic manufacturer in relation to cartel proceedings before the Italian Antitrust Authority and subsequent litigation before the Italian Courts
Admissions