Nicolas Birkhäuser has extensive experience representing companies in cartel and abuse of dominant position investigations as well as in merger control proceedings, including multijurisdictional coordination. Nicolas Birkhäuser also focuses on IP, including in particular transactions and IP related contracts.

Nicolas Birkhäuser advises companies across a broad range of industries, including the automotive sector, financial services, insurance, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, food, mechanical engineering, construction, wholesale and retail, media, telecommunications, IT and sports.

Nicolas Birkhäuser successfully represents leading companies in these industries in high-profile transactions, including, among other things, the setup and growth of their business, cooperation, distribution, sourcing, R&D, market dominance and compliance.

The following is a selection of cases in which Nicolas Birkhäuser acted as a counsel:

• Merger control proceedings, such as the acquisition of SIX Payment Services by Atos / Worldline, European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, 2018
• Cartel and abuse of dominance investigations by the Competition Commission
• Counsel to leading bank in investigation of alleged LIBOR rate manipulation, 2017-2017, partly ongoing
• Counsel to leading bank in investigation of alleged misconduct relating to FX, 2014-ongoing
• Counsel to premium car manufacturer in investigation of alleged collusion with regard to leasing conditions, 2014-ongoing
• Counsel to major construction company in investigations of alleged bid rigging, 2009-ongoing
• Counsel to BMW as defendant in a major parallel import case, 2010-2017
• High-profile transactions including competition law and IP, among others, the takeover of Actelion by Johnson & Johnson, 2017, and the cooperation between Navistar Inc. and MAN/Volkswagen, 2017
• Counsel to Procter & Gamble for competition law and IP, ongoing
• Counsel to Coop Genossenschaft, major Swiss retailer, for competition law, ongoing
• Counsel to Chr. Hansen Holding A/S on matters concerning intellectual property, including in particular technology transfer and licensing, in the context of its agreement with Lonza AG to establish a 50/50 joint venture
• Counsel to ASSA ABLOY AB on matters concerning intellectual property in the context of its acquisition of a 54% controlling stake in agta record ag
• Disputes including competition law and IP