Antitrust/Competition
D’Empaire is a leading law firm in Venezuela in competition and antitrust law. Partners of D’Empaire worked with the Venezuelan antitrust authority before joining the firm, and participated in the special commission that drafted the original Venezuelan Competition Law of 1992. D’Empaire has been considered the best Venezuelan law firm in competition/antitrust by Chambers Latin America.
Merger Control
D’Empaire’s antitrust practice counsels clients in mergers and acquisitions. We provide leading-edge experience under the Venezuelan merger control regime, and have advised a range of multinational and national clients on the Venezuelan competition aspects of many transactions. We have also represented our clients in litigations arising from merger proceedings.
Our representations in merger control include:
- BTG Pactual in the acquisition of Brasil Telecom Venezuela
- Global Crossing in the regulatory approvals of its acquisition by Level 3
- Merck in the acquisition of Schering-Plough
- Global Crossing in the acquisition of Impsat
- Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) in the sale of its shares in Digitel to Telvenco
- Procter & Gamble in its acquisition of Gillette
- Pfizer in its merger with Pharmacia
- BASF in the formation of a joint venture company for the animal nutrition business with Calier Internacional
- Brystol-Myers Squibb in the sale of its Clairol business to Procter & Gamble
- The Coca-Cola Company in the formation of a joint venture company with The Cisneros Group
Cartel/Behavioral Investigations and Litigation
D’Empaire advises clients on cartel investigations, complaints and investigations on abuse of market power and competition issues relating to intellectual property rights and unfair competition. We have defended clients under investigation by competition regulators and represented clients before Venezuelan courts in appeals against decisions by Procompetencia.
Our representations include:
- Kaplan in a claim brought by EF
- Visa International in an investigation on the merchant discount rates in Venezuela
- Schering-Plough in an unfair competition case
- Sanofi-Aventis in a case brought by a local company with respect to Plavix
- Wyeth in an abuse of dominant position case initiated by a local company
- United Airlines in an investigation brought by the Venezuelan travel agencies association against the major carriers operating in Venezuela
- Masisa (a leading Chilean pinewood boards manufacturer) in an abuse of dominant position case brought by a Venezuelan distributor
- RCTV (leading Venezuelan TV network) in an alleged cartel case related to the TV advertisement business
- Digitel (a subsidiary of TIM) in a case for alleged false advertising against Telcel (Movistar)
- Pfizer in an unfair competition case related to Lipitor and Celebrex
- Aventis-Pharma in an unfair competition case related to Allegra and Taxotere
- Cemex in an investigation of the cement industry in Venezuela
- Procter & Gamble in a claim filed by Kraft Foods with the Venezuelan competition authority in connection with the powder drink NutriStar®
- Heinz in a proceeding for unfair competition practices against other manufactures
- Proquim in a proceeding for abuse of dominant position against American Natural Soda Ash Association (ANSAC)