Arthur Cox advises on a broad spectrum of competition law matters, including antitrust, merger control, compliance, and state aid issues. The team is jointly led by Richard Ryan, who handles competition litigation, compliance work, advisory matters, and state aid issues; and Patrick Horan, who covers the full scope of EU and Irish competition law, with particular focus on merger control work and regulatory investigations. Simon Breen is also a key member of the team, recognised for his work across Irish and EU competition law, including antitrust and enforcement actions.
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Profile
Work Department
Competition & Regulated Markets
Position
Patrick is a partner in the Competition and Regulated Markets Group. His practice covers EU and Irish competition law, foreign investment screening and sectoral regulation.
Patrick advises clients on a wide range of competition and regulatory matters, including merger control, foreign investment screening, investigations, State aid, competition law aspects of agreements, compliance programmes, and competition litigation. He has significant experience advising clients in regulated industries, in particular in the telecoms, transport and energy sectors. Prior to joining Arthur Cox in 2016, Patrick worked in the London and Brussels offices of Slaughter and May.
Career
Relevant Experience
- Advising Phoenix Tower International on its €971 million acquisition of Cellnex Ireland, approved by the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (“CCPC”) following an in-depth Phase 2 review
- Advising Dawn Meats on its acquisition of Kildare Chilling, approved unconditionally following a Phase 2 review by the CCPC
- Advising PHOENIX Pharma SE and PHX Ireland on the Irish merger control aspects of its acquisition of McCabes Pharmacy Group
- Advising undertakings in the motor insurance sector in connection with the investigations by the CCPC and the European Commission
- Advising InfraVia Capital Partners on the regulatory aspects of its investment in Fibre Networks Ireland, a dedicated fibre-to-the-home broadband deployment venture with eir
- Advising AIB and First Data Corporation on the EU merger control aspects of their joint acquisition of Payzone Ireland
- Advising Greenergy International in securing EU merger control approval for its acquisition of Inver Energy and unconditional approval from the CCPC for its acquisition of Amber Oil
- Advising eir on the EU and Irish merger control and regulatory aspects of its acquisition by Xavier Niel
- Advising Mediahuis NV in securing approval from the CCPC and the Minister for Communication for its €145.6 million acquisition of Independent News & Media plc
- Advising Volvo Trucks and Renault Trucks on its defence of follow-on damages actions in the Irish High Court arising from the European Commission’s decision in the Trucks cartel
- Advising CRH plc in relation to the CCPC’s investigation in the bagged cement sector in Ireland, as well as advising CRH on its landmark Supreme Court litigation regarding the scope of the CCPC’s dawn raid powers
Memberships
Law Society of Ireland; Law Society of England & Wales; Irish Society of European Law.
Education
LLM, Trinity College Dublin, 2007; LLB, Trinity College Dublin, 2006; Admitted as a solicitor in Ireland, 2016; Admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales, 2010.
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Excellent industry knowledge.’
‘Richard Ryan has been an exceptional partner for our competition law matters. He provides quick, simple and clear advice - exactly what you need in-house. A pleasure to work with.’
‘Richard Ryan is responsive & authoritative. Understated confidence & assurance.’
‘Leading edge knowledge, bright and insightful, practical and thorough.’
‘Top of their field, practical and assertive.’
‘The competition team at Arthur Cox have been involved in nearly all the significant cases over the past 20 years in Ireland. Deep experience of the competition authority and courts is valuable.’
‘The team is highly professional and provides excellent advice, drawing on their solid expertise in the legal field.’
‘I find Patrick Horan particularly outstanding—he is an excellent partner and very easy to collaborate with.’
Key clients
- Sector Alarm Group InfraVia Capital Partners CRH plc Irish Cement Limited Roadstone Limited Flutter Entertainment plc Kerry Group plc Ryanair Greencore Group plc Mediahuis N.V. and Mediahuis Ireland Applegreen Accenture Volvo and Renault Trucks Glanbia plc National Broadband Ireland Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company Phoenix Tower international Apax Partners PHOENIX Group Musgrave group Bunzl TPG Assured Partners Partners Group
Work highlights
Advised PTI, a global wireless communications infrastructure provider and portfolio company of Blackstone Inc., on the acquisition of Cellnex Telecom’s towers business in Ireland for c.€971m.