Senior Managing Associate

Ben Falkenberg

Antitrust/Competition

bfalkenberg@sidley.com

London +44 20 7360 3781

- Letter
- A4

BEN FALKENBERG focuses his practice on EU and UK antitrust/competition law issues.

Ben advises and represents clients on all aspects of antitrust/competition law, including cartel investigations and anti-competitive agreements, merger control and clearance, dominance cases, industry cooperation and information exchanges, EU state aid law, and antitrust compliance and counselling.

Ben has acted across a variety of industry sectors, including financial services, payment services, commodities trading, transport and logistics, chemical and industrial manufacturing, electronics, energy, pharmaceuticals, online platforms and tech. He also regularly advises hedge funds and similar entities engaged in event-driven merger arbitrage on transaction risk and procedural time-frames and hurdles for international deals in various industries.

Recent examples of Ben’s work include advising:

Bain Capital on its acquisition of Astral SteriTech Private Limited, a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer.
Great Hill Partners in connection with its acquisition of Notonthehighstreet, a UK curated online marketplace.
Regal Beloit Corporation in its US$9.1 billion combination with the Process & Motion Control (PMC) Business of Rexnord Corporation.
Cubic Corporation in its acquisition by Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital for an enterprise value of US$2.8 billion.
KKR on its participation in a US$530 million funding round in Wolt, a leading European food delivery business based in Finland.
A global investment bank in relation to an competition authority investigation into syndicated and corporate loans.
A large automotive interiors producer in relation to the sale of its global sunroofs business to a competitor.
A UK investment bank, in relation to an internal investigation of trader communications and the bank’s notification obligations to the UK FCA under Principle 11.

Prior to joining Sidley in 2020, Ben gained experience as an antitrust/competition law associate in the Brussels and London offices of another international law firm. Ben was also on secondment (for 13 months) to the legal department of a German investment bank in London, where he served as antitrust/competition counsel and gained experience in clients’ day-to-day advisory needs.

Ben graduated with honours from the Sorbonne Law School (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) in 2012, receiving his JurisDoctor from Cornell Law School the following year.

Ben advises clients in English, French and German.

*Only admitted to practice in New York. Not admitted to practice in England and Wales.

Experience

Investigations – Ben regularly advises clients in relation to complex internal investigations, as well as cartel and antitrust investigations by regulators and authorities. Representative matters include advising:

A multi-national chemical company in relation to an antitrust investigation by the European Commission and other authorities concerning a suspected supplier cartel.
A global payment services company in relation to a European Commission antitrust investigation opened following an antitrust complaint.
A global electronics component manufacturer in its defence of the European Commission’s investigation into an alleged cartel in the capacitors industry.

Mergers – Ben advises clients on multijurisdictional merger control aspects of deals, identifying required filings and advocating for clearance within favourable timeframes. Representative matters include advising:

A large American manufacturing company relation to the sale of its European nonwovens business to a rival.
A global commodities trading firm on its acquisition of the commodities trading business of a U.S. investment bank.
Conducting merger assessments, for example in sale of its fluid management business to a distributor, or in a medical robotics company's sale to a German conglomerate.

Advisory/counselling – Ben has experience in providing on-going counselling and trainings, to help clients proactively avoid antitrust infringements in their day-to-day business.Representative matters include advising:

A global investment bank in relation to risks stemming from inter-dealer communications between emerging markets traders and increased antitrust scrutiny in the field of syndicated loans.
A global investment bank in the development of a bank-wide, global antitrust control and compliance framework.
A U.S. investment bank on risks arising from the receipt of information collated by and received from a real-time data vendor.

*Ben was involved in the above matters prior to joining Sidley.

American Bar Association, Antitrust Law Section

Credentials

Admissions & Certifications

New York

*Only admitted to practice in New York. Not admitted to practice in England and Wales.

Ben Falkenberg

Credentials

Admissions & Certifications

Education

Languages

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