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Curriculum Vitae
Summary
All specialist areas
Competition Law/Antitrust

Alistair Lindsay

MA (Cambridge), PhD (Cambridge)
Call date: 1993

Summary

Alistair Lindsay specialises in merger control, cartels/restrictive agreements, and abuse of market power.  He was listed as one of the top 40 antitrust lawyers in the world aged under 40 by Global Competition Review in February 2004 and again in May 2008.  He is the author of "The EC Merger Regulation: Substantive Issues" (Sweet and Maxwell; 3rd ed, 2009 jointly with Alison Berridge), which was described by a leading partner in a review as a "masterpiece".  He was a partner in Allen & Overy LLP from 2001 to 2009 and, whilst a solicitor, was listed as a leading practitioner (in the first tier) of Competition/EU law by Chambers UK, which described him as a "star practioner" (2008) and a "virtuoso" (2006) and referred to his "brilliantly accurate advice" (2007).

For more information on "The EC Merger Regulation: Substantive Issues" (Sweet and Maxwell; 3rd ed, 2009), please click here.

Recent/Major Cases

Competition Appeal Tribunal

  • Representing Eventim on its successful application to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to quash the Competition Commission's decision to clear the US$800 million merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

Mergers

  • Representing Eventim on the Live Nation / Ticketmaster merger
  • Advising Novartis on its US$39 billion acquisition of Alcon
  • Advising Cable & Wireless on its bid for Thus (cleared unconditionally by the OFT)
  • Advising Emap on the merger control aspects of its break-up (all approvals obtained in phase 1)
  • Advising the purchaser on Arqiva / BT SBS ("3 to 2" in satellite distribution services; cleared unconditionally by the OFT)
  • Advising the purchaser on William Hill / Stanley Leisure (cleared by the OFT on the basis of undertakings in lieu)
  • Advising the purchaser on DS Smith / LINPAC Containers (cleared unconditionally by the Competition Commission)
  • Advising the vendor on GE / Smiths Aerospace (cleared in phase I, although it raised similar conglomerate issues to GE / Honeywell)
  • Advising the lead partner, Smiths Group, on Smiths / GE Detection JV (eventually abandoned)
  • Advising the purchaser on NewsCorp / Telepiù (junior partner) (Phase II in EC; merger to monopoly; complex set of commitments)

Behavioural

  • Advising a generic supplier on the European Commission's investigation into perindopril (Servier) (ongoing)
  • Advising Procter & Gamble on the OFT's investigation into alleged predatory pricing in the supply of mesalazines (which led to a case closure decision)
  • Advising a listed construction company on the OFT's investigation into alleged cover pricing in England
  • Advising a major manufacturer on the OFT's investigation into alleged coordination of retail prices in supermarkets (ongoing)
  • Advising DS Smith on the OFT's investigation into an alleged Corrugated Sheet Cartel (which led to a case closure decision)
  • Advising BT on the Competition Commission investigation into Classified Directory Advertising Services (from March 2006)
  • Advising William Hill (originally the lead complainant) on the OFT's investigation into the supply of race and runners data by the British Horseracing Board