Antonio Bavasso is a leading antitrust lawyer with extensive experience in merger reviews, government antitrust investigations, antitrust litigation, and counseling on a variety of competition issues. He advises clients across a broad range of industries, including the technology, media, and telecom sector, in a wide variety of matters before the European Commission, the United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority, and other global competition authorities.
Antonio leads the Firm’s European antitrust and foreign investment group and is considered one of the top advisors on merger control and regulatory litigation. He has represented clients in obtaining antitrust approvals in numerous precedent-setting and challenging transactions in the technology, media, and telecom sector, including his recent representation of Liberty Global plc in its GBP31bn deal with Telefónica SA to merge Virgin Media (the U.K. subsidiary of Liberty Global) and O2. He also has extensive experience in antitrust litigation, having advised on complex merger control cases before the Competition Appeal Tribunal of the United Kingdom, the Court of Appeal, and the EU General Court.
Antonio’s recent work highlights include:
- Liberty Global plc in antitrust review of its £31 billion deal with Telefónica SA to merge Virgin Media (the U.K. subsidiary of Liberty Global) and O2, which was cleared unconditionally by the CMA after phase II review;
- Huws Gray in its acquisition of Grafton Group plc.’s generalist builders’ merchant business, on which the CMA consulted on phase I remedies using an innovative “fast-track” procedure;
- Nexi S.p.A. in its acquisition of payment provider SIA, which was cleared subject to conditions after an in-depth investigation by the Italian Competition Authority;
- News UK in relation to the Times Newspapers undertakings and their release 40 years after their imposition;
- Advising Microsoft in relation to its acquisition of Xandr from AT&T; and separately, on the foreign investment aspects of its acquisition of Nuance; and
- Ferro Corporation in its acquisition by Prince International Corporation for US$2.1 billion, for which we achieved clearance subject to divestment remedies by the EC.
Antonio’s experience prior to joining Simpson Thacher includes:
- 20th Century Fox in a U.K. investigation into the supply of movies to pay-TV providers and a European Commission investigation into pay-TV territorial licensing;
- 21st Century Fox in a variety of transactions, including its proposed acquisition of Sky, its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company, and its sale of Sky Italia and its 57.4% stake in Sky Deutschland to Sky;
- Mubadala Development Company PJSC in a variety of transactions, including its joint acquisition with Sony of EMI Music Publishing and subsequent disposal of its interest in EMI Music Publishing to Sony;
- News Corporation / News UK in a variety of strategic matters, including the revision of The Times undertakings;
- Orange Austria in the EU Phase II merger control clearance of its acquisition by Hutchison 3G Austria;
- Sky in the acquisition of a stake in ITV (and following litigation up to the Court of Appeal) and in the CMA’s Phase II investigation of BT’s proposed acquisition of EE;
- VEON in its joint venture with CK Hutchison that led to the creation of WindTre and the subsequent sale of its interest in WindTre to CK Hutchison; and
- WPP in various antitrust matters, including its acquisition of TNS (cleared by the European Commission subject to remedies).
Antonio is consistently recognized as a leader in Competition Law by Chambers Global, Chambers UK, Chambers Europe, and The Legal 500 UK (“Hall of Fame”), where he is described as a “Superstar” with “an exceptional understanding of the relevant law, excellent judgement, and superb skills in dealing efficiently and sensitively with clients.” Benchmark Litigation’s Europe guide has recognized him as a “Litigation Star” for Competition/Antitrust in the U.K. He is also listed in Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders for Competition and has been described by the publication as a “[f]irst class lawyer, you want him on your side for behavioural investigations and antitrust litigation.”
Prior to joining Simpson Thacher, Antonio was Co-Head of the Global Antitrust practice and the Telecoms, Media and Technology practice at another international law firm. He is both U.K. and Italy-qualified. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Florence and a Ph.D. from University College London, where he is a visiting professor and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Jevons Institute for Competition Law and Economics.
Antonio regularly writes on competition law matters for industry publications, including serving as consultant editor of the Butterworths Competition Law Handbook. He was also a non-governmental advisor on unilateral practices and merger control for the International Competition Network of competition authorities.