Martin McElwee

About Martin McElwee

Martin helps clients manage their strategy in relation to competition law issues and covers all aspects of EU and UK competition law, including merger control, antitrust, market reviews and State aid.

He has acted in a wide range of cases in front of the European Commission and the UK competition and sectoral regulators.

Martin works across all sectors, but has particular expertise in the TMT and financial sectors. In these fast-moving sectors, the application of competition law presents particular challenges, and Martin’s understanding of his clients’ business is central to achieving results for them.

Much of his work is multinational in nature – including cross-border mergers, pan-European investigations and counselling clients on their global antitrust strategy. Many of his cases involve managing a team of lawyers across multiple jurisdictions.

Recent work

• Saint-Gobain in relation to the CMA’s Phase 1 clearance of its acquisition of GCP;
• BDT in relation to the CMA’s Phase 1 clearance of the combination of its portfolio company, Culligan, and Waterlogic;
• LSEG in relation to the European Commission’s merger review of its $27bn acquisition of Refinitiv, securing clearance at Phase II;
• Aon in relation to the European Commission’s review of its $29.9bn merger with Willis Towers Watson, securing clearance at Phase II;
• Nets (and its owner, Hellman & Friedman) in relation to the European Commission’s review of its acquisition by Mastercard;
• Allfunds Bank (and its owner, Hellman & Friedman) in relation to acquisitions of businesses from BNPP and Credit Suisse;
• Poundland in relation to the CMA’s review of its acquisition of 99p Stories, securing clearance at Phase II;
• Wincor Nixdorf in relation to the CMA’s review of its acquisition by Diebold, securing clearance at Phase II;
• Rexam plc in relation to the European Commission’s review of its acquisition by Ball Corporation, securing clearance at Phase II;
• Aberdeen Asset Management in relation to the CMA’s review of its merger with Standard Life;
• Cinven in relation to its sale of Chryso to Saint Gobain;
• Continental in relation to the CMA’s review of its acquisition of Veyance;
• Barclays in relation to the CMA’s review of its acquisition of TheLogicGroup;
• Lloyds Register in relation to international merger control and foreign investment reviews of the sale of its assurance business to Goldman Sachs;
• Interoute in relation to international merger control and foreign investment reviews of its sale to GTT;
• Swiss Re on the acquisition of a closed insurance book from Legal & General;
• Phoenix Group on its sale of its Ignis asset management business;
• The administrators of Debenhams plc in relation to the options for the sale of its assets;
• UPM-Kymmene in relation to the European Commission’s review of its acquisition of Myllykoski, securing clearance at Phase II;
• Facebook on the CMA’s market study into digital advertising;
• Asahi Glass in relation to its CRT glass cartel settlement with the European Commission;
• A major Hollywood studio in relation to the European Commission’s cross-border broadcasting investigation, as well as a series of acquisitions;
• Deloitte, in relation to the CMA’s market study on statutory audit, and the earlier market investigation on this market;
• Aon in relation to the FCA’s wholesale insurance broking market study;
• Barclays in relation to the FCA’s cash savings market study;
• M&G in relation to the FCA’s asset management market study;
• A major Hollywood studio in relation to the UK market investigation into Movies on Pay TV;
• Zurich in relation to the UK market investigation into motor insurance;
• The UK Department for Business in relation to the State aid aspects of its restructuring of the Royal Mail pension fund;
• AES in relation to energy-related State aid proceedings before the European Commission;
• The National Bank of Cyprus in relation to State aid proceedings relation to the Cyprus Cooperative Bank;
• The Anglo Irish Bank in relation to State aid issues related to its restructuring and eventual wind-down;
• The Bank of England in relation to the State aid and merger control aspects of multiple financial institution rescues and restructurings in the context of the financial crisis.