Patrick Bock’s practice focuses on European and U.S. antitrust and competition matters.

He has extensive experience advising on all aspects of EU and U.S. antitrust and competition law. He advises companies in securing merger control and foreign direct investment approvals from competition and other regulatory authorities across Europe and the United States, and manages the coordination of complex merger control proceedings globally. He regularly assists clients in the defense of cartel and other anti-competitive practice investigations (including abuse of dominance cases) brought by competition authorities globally, as well as in follow-on damages actions by private claimants. He advises a range of clients on an ongoing basis on complex antitrust compliance matters and best practices. He regularly appears before the European Commission, the German Bundeskartellamt, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Patrick joined the firm in Washington, D.C., in 2003 and was on a first rotation in the Brussels office from 2007 to 2009. After becoming partner in 2013, he spent five years in the firm’s Cologne office, before returning to Brussels in 2018.

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Notable Experiences

  • 3M Company in its $2.5 billion acquisition of Capital Safety Group from affiliates of KKR.

  • Altana in merger control proceedings before the German FCO and U.S. FTC with respect to the $635 million acquisition of the Rheology Additives Business from Rockwood Holdings Inc., USA.

  • Atlantic Tele-Network representation in AT&T’s acquisition of certain ATN assets.

  • Deutsche Telekom in subsidiary T-Mobile USA’s $1.5 billion acquisition of MetroPCS, and its previously proposed $39 billion sale of T-Mobile USA to AT&T.

  • Dollar Thrifty in its $2.3 billion acquisition by Hertz and through multiple competing offers by Hertz and Avis.

  • GlaxoSmithKline on the global antitrust aspects of its game-changing multibillion-euro, three-part transaction with Novartis involving its consumer health care, vaccines and oncology businesses.

  • Merck & Co on the antitrust aspects in all non-U.S. jurisdictions of its merger with Schering-Plough.

  • OpenText on the U.S. antitrust aspects of its $1.165 billion acquisition of GXS Group.

  • Travelocity and its parent Sabre Holdings in winning dismissal of an antitrust class action involving online pricing of hotel rooms brought against clients Travelocity and its parent Sabre Holdings, among other online travel agencies and hotels.

  • Platform Specialty Products Corporation in its game-changing $2.3 billion takeover of Alent in a transaction involving an array of specialty chemicals businesses and filings in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

  • Swissport International, a portfolio company of PAI Partners, in EU merger control proceedings with respect to the acquisition of Servisair from Derichebourg and in the follow-on sale of Swissport to HNA Group.

  • Westlake Chemical Corporation in merger control proceedings in Austria, Poland, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine with respect to Westlake’s €490 million acquisition of Vinnolit Holdings GmbH and its subsidiaries from private equity firm Advent International.

  • Whirlpool in various conduct investigations in Europe.

  • Numerous automotive parts suppliers in worldwide cartel investigations, including advising several companies on ongoing cases in Europe, the U.S., Brazil and other jurisdictions.

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Publications

Events