Competition/Antitrust
ALRUD’s Competition and Antitrust team is widely recognized as one of the leading and most reputable practices with market-leading expertise in all aspects of Russian competition law. We support clients on a wide range of antitrust issues: coordination of merger control transactions with the FAS (Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service), cartel investigations, antitrust disputes, commercial agreements and antitrust compliance.
Our full-service offering is a key factor in attracting blue-chip domestic and international clients. Our Competition and Antitrust team routinely works with our top ranking M&A, commercial law and dispute resolution practices, enabling us to advise on the full spectrum of a client’s complex requirements and provide the scale of resources needed to service the most demanding cases. Our multilingual approach is a significant advantage, allowing us to provide legal services in English and Russian as well as multiple other languages including German, French, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
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Our in-depth knowledge of local competition laws and wide network of international law firm partners are recognized as core factors determining our clients’ success in complex multijurisdictional projects.
ALRUD’s Competition and Antitrust team is consistently ranked as an elite practice by the major international legal directories and is highly regarded by the Russian competition authorities.
Our practice is supported by some 15 further lawyers specialising in competition and anti-trust matters, making it one of the leading teams in Russia.
Our Competition and Antitrust practice is headed by Vassily Rudomino, Senior Partner and co-founder of ALRUD. Vassily is widely regarded as one of the most experienced competition lawyers in Russia. He brings deep experience in all aspects of Russian competition legislation including merger control clearance of complex transactions and cartel investigations. He is recognised as one of the most influential practitioners in the enforcement of effective competition and antitrust law-making in Russia.
Partner German Zakharov also participates in the leadership of the practice. He worked for several years as a leading expert for FAS Russia where he was involved in merger control cases, rule-making, legal investigation of competition law infringements and dawn raids. German supports clients on a wide range of antitrust issues. His previous experience as a regulator offers clients rare and valuable insights into the workings of the Russian competition authorities. <
Competition / Antitrust services
Merger control
We advise on Russian and CIS competition and regulatory aspects of acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures. We have unique experience representing clients during strategic investments review processes and in regulated sectors of economy.
Cartels, Abuse of Dominance and Unfair Practices
Clients seek our advice in cases involving high-profile CIS, Eurasian and Russian antitrust investigations and subsequent litigation. Our experience includes: conducting audits, risk assessment, preparing for inspections and challenging dawn raids, coordinating legal strategy, negotiating leniency and settlement agreements.
Antitrust Litigation
We handle high-stakes litigation in Russia and CIS, producing successful results for our clients. We are experienced at trying complicated cases involving allegations of monopolization, price fixing, bid rigging, exclusive dealing, claims pertaining to vertical restraints and merger control cases.
Sectoral regulation
We are known for our strong sectoral regulation experience (strategic industries, transport, product retail, energy) where we have a successful track record of advising clients on restructurings, regulatory initiatives, transactions and governmental investigations.
Antitrust Counseling
We provide clients with ongoing antitrust counseling in Russia, Eurasia and CIS – advice on antitrust concerns arising out of our clients’ business.
Discover our insights
Highlights of recent domestic and international work
Bayer AG
with regard to its US$66 billion takeover of Monsanto Company in FAS Russia, including court challenging of FAS Russia decision.
Samsung
during the dawn raid of the FAS as well as in the case on violation of the antimonopoly legislation in the form of coordination of business activities of resellers.
Uber International Inc.
with regard to clearance of thejoint-venture agreement with Yandex NV in FAS Russia.The deal is the largest merger in the taxi aggregators markets in Russia.
Discovery, AT&T and WarnerMedia
during approval by FAS Russia (merger control review) of the US$43 billion deal to create an expanded global media entertainment company for development, production and distribution of feature films, television, games and other media content in the entertainment industry.
VimpelCom
on obtaining clearance of FAS Russia to establish a joint venture between 4 (and then 3) federal telecommunications operators-competitors for the conversion of radio frequencies and construction of 5G infrastructure in Russia - a unique deal because it combined 3 largest Russian telecommunication operators in an emerging market.
Praxair Inc.
with regard to its merger with Linde AG,leading to creation of the largest global industrial gases leader with combined market value in excess of US$75 billion.
The Blackstone Group L.P.
in FAS Russia with regardto acquisition of a majority stake in Thomson Reuters Corporation’s financial and risk unit that values the business of the company at US$20 billion.
Diebold Inc.
in FAS Russia with regard to its acquisition of Wincor-Nixdorf AG, leading to the merger of the 2nd and the 3rd largest ATMs producers in Russia.
LG Electronics Inc.
during FAS Russia dawn-raids and further consideration of the antimonopoly case on coordination of economic activity of LG smartphone resellers resulting in resale price maintenance.
Maersk Line
with regard to cartel investigation and subsequent court dispute against FAS Russia.
Andreas STIHL
with regard to FAS Russia investigationon coordination of economic activities of its distributors.The investigation was terminated due to absence of any violation.
AGC Glass
on different aspects of antimonopoly legislation, including unfair competition, cartels and other anticompetitive agreements, dominance, tariff regulations and other legislative matters.
Vimpelcom
in FAS Russia investigation of the alleged collusive behavior on smartphone market and in courts in relation to the strategic investments investigation.
Nabors Industries Ltd.
in two related court disputes against FAS Russia aimed at challenging FAS Russia decision and solving the difficulties in appliance of the Strategic Investments Law.
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