EU and competition

Matheson LLP

Matheson LLP is at the forefront of merger control, especially phase 2 merger review cases by the CCPC. It continues to stand out for its expertise in media mergers and its experience with the Irish FDI screening regime. It has worked on all completed CCPC investigations of recent years and has represented clients in a series of major competition cases, including the headline trucks litigation. Niall Collins heads the competition and regulatory group and remains a market leader in merger control. Kate McKenna has also made an impression in merger control and competition litigation. Calum Warren is another emerging talent and Simon Shinkwin was recently promoted to the partnership.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘Niall Collins is great, responsive, smart and practical. Conor Slowey, who recently the joined the team, is always across the detail. ’
‘Calum Warren is a particularly skilled lawyer and a pleasure to work with. He is clearly an expert in competition law. He is always approachable and gives very practical advice, breaking down a very complex area of the law into understandable language. I would highly recommend him.’
‘Kate McKenna is an outstanding talent. She has wonderful insights and wisdom and has a real talent in delivering difficult messages in a collaborative and easy to understand fashion. She is always calm and collected in her manner and extremely professional.'
‘Niall Collins is an excellent partner with an extraordinarily high level of client service. Simon Shinkwin is excellent, highly responsive and has a strong grasp of the issues.’
‘Niall Collins and Calum Warren are amazing practitioners and individuals in general. Always available to offer top notch legal advice. Very knowledgeable, very informed and connected, offering first class business relevant advice. My first choice in all Irish competition law questions.’
‘Niall Collins is a great combination of technical skill, client management, commerciality and responsiveness. One of the best competition partners I've worked with.'
‘Niall Collins is a seasoned practitioner who is a real voice of authority on antitrust matters in Ireland. The Irish merger control process can be very involved and having Niall on the team is a game changer. Calum Warren is an exceptional younger partner. He is thorough and knowledgeable. He provides a great service to clients.’
‘Niall Collins - pragmatic, and a pleasure to deal with. Great to have on your side. Kate McKenna - very good technically and very responsive. Simon Shinkwin - excellent competition lawyer and a pleasure to deal with.’

Key clients

Cellnex Telecom
Oracle
Aon
Kerry Group
Credit Union Mortgage Services Ireland
Winthrop Technologies
CMA CGM
Brookfield Corporation
Tirlán Co-operative Society
Mediahuis NV
AXA S.A.
Meta
Bauer Media Group
Blackrock Health
CLdN
Gilead
Grain Management
Insurance Ireland
Hayden AI
Le Creuset
MTM Packaging
Smurfit Kappa Group
Ticketmaster
Bank of Ireland
Three Ireland (and its parent CK Hutchison)
Parma Investments Limited, and its parent Goodman Group
Daily Mail / DMGT plc
Discovery
Enterprise Ireland
ASL Aviation
Brokers Ireland
Orpea S.A
Ornua
Speed Fibre Group (enet, Airspeed and Magnet) & its parent AMP Capital
SSE
Irish Distillers and its parent, Pernod Ricard
AIB
An Post
Fexco
Abtran
Aramark
Bord Na Mona
Boskalis
College Proteins
Commercial Mushrooms Producers Co-Operative Society (CMP)
Carr Communications
Chapel Gate
Commscope
Discovery
Department for Energy
daa plc
Disney
Energia
FitBit
Irving Oil / Top Oil
JPI Media plc
Microsoft
Monument Re
Monaghan Mushrooms
Newsbrands
Nicholl (Fuel Oils) Ltd
Nomad Foods
Oaktree
Opel
Post Office Limited
Saint Gobain
Sky Ireland
Sport Ireland
TINE
TripActions
Irish Life
Waystone (Ireland) Ltd
Iveco SpA
Linnaeus Veterinary Group
Vermilion Energy Inc
Vodafone Ireland Ltd
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS)
Carne Global Financial Services Ltd
Royal Bank of Canada
Supersapiens
Shares.io
Alibaba.com
Aer-Rianta International cpt
Fresenius Medical Care (Ireland) Ltd
Wellster Healthtech Group GmbH
Virgin Media
Macquarie Group Limited

Work highlights

Advised Smurfit Kappa Group on its $11.1bn acquisition of Westrock, including as lead antitrust adviser on all European merger filings and one of the first FSR filings to the European Commission.
Advised Bauer Media Audio,on a series of acquisitions in the media sector including obtaining regulatory approvals.
Acted for Cellnex Telecom in the sale of its Irish business to Phoenix Tower International.

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