Anne Federle

I am a competition lawyer steering clients through EU and national merger control, cartel and abuse proceedings and providing pragmatic, hands-on competition law advice.

I have over 25 years of experience advising and representing clients in all areas of EU and German competition law.

Two key areas of my practice are merger control and cartel investigations. I have been involved in a large number of complex merger control cases before the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office and regularly manage multi-jurisdictional merger control proceedings across the globe. I also represent clients in EU and national cartel and abuse of dominance proceedings, help them conduct internal investigations to identify and address anti-competitive conduct and support them in developing effective competition law compliance programmes.

When clients seek my advice on how to conduct certain activities in compliance with competition law, I always try to put myself in their shoes. My aim is to help them find a workable solution rather than just offering legal advice.

Over the years I have developed significant expertise in a number of sectors where technology plays an important role. This includes in particular the automotive industry as well as the electronics and telecommunications sectors. I also have a strong interest in competition law issues around (big) data and work closely with our data protection team on issues at the interface of competition and data protection law.

• Obtaining EU merger control clearance and coordinating merger control notifications in five non-EU countries for the establishment of an aircraft seating joint venture between Adient (the world's largest automotive seating supplier) and Boeing.
• Representing E.ON in the EU merger control proceedings regarding the acquisition of shares in Virta, a leading Finnish e-mobility provider.
• Advising Delphi Automotive on the merger control aspects of the divestiture of its thermal business in a competitive bidding process. This involved supporting Delphi in merger filings in the EU and several non-EU countries.
• Representing Johnson Controls and Yanfeng (a subsidiary of SAIC Motor Corporation) in the EU merger control proceedings regarding the creation of a joint venture for automotive interior products.
• Assisting John Deere in obtaining merger control clearance in 5 European countries for the acquisition of the French planter manufacturer Monosem.
• Representing a Japanese supplier in the EU capacitors cartel investigation.
• Representing a major automotive supplier in the EU wire harness cartel investigation.
• Advising and representing Mastercard in the German investigation regarding domestic interchange fees as well as various other proceedings before and discussions with the German Competition Authority.