Ashurst's EU competition practice is led by Nigel Parr. "He is an outstanding lawyer, always calm, completely unflappable, knows everything inside out, really excellent - if I had a problem I would go to him," says a competitor....
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Ashurst's EU competition practice is led by Nigel Parr. "He is an outstanding lawyer, always calm, completely unflappable, knows everything inside out, really excellent - if I had a problem I would go to him," says a competitor.
Julian Ellison also receives high praise from clients: "He is innovative and does not just do what you ask him, he is very good at pushing to make things happen; he is good at thinking." According to a second client Ellison "is excellent and has very good knowledge of our business". The firm recently went through a process of decentralisation of its European network and shows good growth figures as a result.
In notable cases, Ellison helped Candover Investment and Ontex file a merger notification for its €1.2 billion sale of Ontex subsidiary Candover Partners (hygienic disposals company) to private equity firms Goldman Sachs PIA and TPG Capital. As well as being one of Belgium's biggest ever private equity deals, the transaction required a number of clearances in European and Asian countries.
Alexandre Vandeneasteele led a team advising Colgate Palmolive on merger control matters for its €672 million acquisition of Sanex, which came as a direct result of the Commission forcing Unilever to divest. Denis Waelbroek advised Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutica on the notification of the €206 million sale of its animal health division to Elanco, which involved parallel filings in Latin America.
A fourth interesting deal saw Ellison advise US company Millpore on its merger notification to the Commission on its €5.2 billion sale to Merck, a deal which also involving clearance in Asia and the Americas.
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