Christoph Barth

Christoph is a partner in Linklaters’ Global Antitrust & Foreign Investment Practice, based in Düsseldorf. He has a particular expertise in complex and global merger control proceedings and also advises clients on foreign investment control proceedings in Germany and other jurisdictions globally.

Further, Christoph comprehensively advises clients in abuse of dominance and cartel proceedings before the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office as well as in internal investigations in the context of potential competition law infringements. He is a member of Linklaters’ German “crisis management” group. Finally, he represents clients in competition litigation matters.

Christoph leads the “Innovation and Efficiency” Initiative within Linklaters’ Global Antitrust & Foreign Investment Practice, aiming to constantly improve the services we can offer, whether by creating new innovative solutions or by driving efficiency in everything we do.

He is listed by Who’s Who Legal and GCR as “future leader in competition law - partner” (2020).

Work highlights

Christoph has advised and represented clients in many major competition and foreign investment matters. His recent experience includes:

• E.ON on several strategic transactions, such as all competition and foreign investment control aspects of the large-scale asset swap with RWE, the spin-off of Uniper and the subsequent sale of a significant participation in Uniper to Fortum;
• ams with regard to all merger control and foreign investment proceedings for the acquisition of OSRAM;
• Deutsche Börse on its attempted merger of equals with London Stock Exchange;
• several clients in in-depth review proceedings under German foreign investment laws before the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy and in relation to Special Security Agreements;
• an operator of an oil pipeline in the successful defence before the European Commission and the Federal Cartel Office in relation to an alleged abuse of a dominant position;
• several clients in cartel proceedings and internal investigations concerning potential infringements of competition laws.
  
  

Christoph joined Linklaters in 2012 and became Managing Associate in 2016. He was elected Partner in 2019.

He is a member of Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht (Study Association Competition/Antitrust Law), German-Chinese Lawyer Association, American Bar Association Antitrust Section and American Law and Economics Association.

Christoph studied law and economics at the University of Bonn and worked as a trainee lawyer at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology as well as at the European Commission.

Christoph speaks German, English, French and Chinese (Mandarin).

Christoph is a member of the editorial board of the “Foreign Investment Links” blog, regularly publishing on global developments in foreign investment laws. Further, he is a regular speaker on conferences and seminars on competition law. Furthermore, he regularly contributes articles to legal journals and compendiums, most recently he wrote:

• Barth, Christoph / Ahlborn, Christian / dos Santos Goncalves, David-Julien, Foreign investment: an overview of EU and national case law, in Concurrences, 2020;
• Annual Review on the German Foreign Investment Control Regime, in Der Betrieb (DB) 2020;
• Barth, Christoph / Ahlborn, Christian / dos Santos Goncalves, David-Julien, Foreign Investment Lockdown in Concurrences: Special Edition - Competition Law and the Health Crisis, 2020;
• „Competition Law“ in “Handbook for the Board and Supervisory Board” (Handbuch Vorstand und Aufsichtsrat), published by RWS, 2019.