WilmerHale has secured clearance for hundreds of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures in the United States and Europe from the US Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, European Commission, EU Member States and China, including some of the largest and most complex mergers in recent years. We have also successfully opposed mergers on our clients’ behalf. In either case, we engage the regulators proactively from the outset to maximize the prospect of achieving the result our client seeks and work with the client to obtain those results promptly and efficiently.

Our lawyers appear before antitrust and competition authorities in the US and Europe nearly every day and benefit from a deep understanding of those agencies. In addition, the WilmerHale team includes two former deputy assistant attorneys general in the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice, a former Director of the Bureau of Competition at the US Federal Trade Commission, the former Director-General of the Directorate-General for Competition and the former general counsel of the American Chamber of Commerce – People's Republic of China, each of whom can provide critical insight into the processes and analysis of these agencies.

Our merger clearance practice also benefits from the firm’s strong regulatory practices in Washington, Europe and Beijing. Many transactions are reviewed not only by competition authorities, but also by sectorial regulators, such as the Federal Communications Commission in the US. Our experience with these regulators and the industries they regulate provide us with additional insight and capabilities to assist in all aspects of the merger clearance process.

WilmerHale’s deep experience in merger review builds off a long tradition of involvement in the development of merger clearance regimes in the US, Europe and China. In the US, the first merger guidelines produced by any competition authority were issued in 1968 by the Department of Justice and were drafted by then-Assistant Attorney General Don Turner, with assistance from Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bob Hammond and Turner's special assistant, Jim Campbell. Turner, Hammond and Campbell all later joined what was then Wilmer Cutler & Pickering and helped develop and expand the firm's antitrust practice. In Europe, Senior Counsel Claus-Dieter Elhermann was Director-General for Competition at the European Commission just as the Commission's Merger Regulation was coming into effect. In Germany, Karlheinz Quack, a founder of the firm that is now the core of our Berlin office, was a principal in shaping the development German antitrust and competition law. This history, along with our continuous contact with the reviewing agencies, enables our team to provide insight and strategic advice for even the most complex of transactions.

Some of the highlights of our merger clearance practice in recent years:

• Obtained US clearance for International Paper’s acquisition of Temple-Inland and obtained US, German and Chinese clearance for its acquisition of Weyerhaeuser's containerboard business.
• Obtained first-phase EU clearance for Lufthansa’s sale of British Midland to International Airlines Group, marking the first time that the Commission cleared a combination of airlines with hubs at the same airport. Also represented Lufthansa AG in its successful acquisitions of three European air carriers—Brussels Airlines, British Midland and Austrian Airlines.
• Obtained US antitrust clearance for Qwest without the issuance of a Second Request in its merger with CenturyLink.
• Represented Cisco in obtaining clearance in both the US and before the European Commission for its acquisition of Tandberg, a matter repeatedly cited by US and EC officials as a primary example of transatlantic cooperation.
• Secured US merger clearance for Brambles Limited’s $1.3 billion acquisition of IFCO Systems NV, two leading providers of pallet services in the United States.
• The firm represented the second largest provider of regulated medical waste services in obtaining clearance for its acquisition by the largest provider of those services.
• Obtained clearance in the US and Europe for Disney's acquisition of Marvel Entertainment.
• Acted as co-counsel for Oracle in obtaining EC clearance for its acquisitions of PeopleSoft and Siebel.
• Secured US Justice Department clearance for Verizon Communications Inc.’s $8.5 billion acquisition of MCI and, later, the company’s $28.1 billion acquisition of Alltel.
• Obtained FTC clearance for Millennium Pharmaceuticals in connection with its $8.8 billion sale to Takeda—the largest overseas acquisition by a Japanese drug firm.
• Represented Statoil in obtaining European Commission approval of its $30 billion merger with the petroleum activities of Norsk Hydro.
• Secured antitrust clearance in both the US and Europe for the $14.9 billion Linde acquisition of the BOC Group to create the world’s largest industrial gases company.
• Acting as regular outside antitrust counsel for BAE Systems transactions, including its acquisition of Lockheed Martin Sanders, Armor Holdings and United Defense before the US Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Defense.
• Acting as regular outside antitrust counsel for Regal Cinemas transactions, including obtaining DOJ clearance for the combination of the Regal, Edwards and United Artists theater chains, creating the largest movie theater chain in the United States.