Paolo Morante

Paolo regularly represents clients as antitrust counsel in merger enforcement proceedings before the US antitrust agencies. Significant recent merger enforcement and civil antitrust investigation engagements include:

• Medtronic kidney health joint venture with DaVita
• MesaBiotech acquisition by ThermoFisher
• Danone acquisition of Follow Your Heart
• MKS acquisition of Atotech
• Swarm Technologies sale to SpacEx
• CareMmax acquisition of Steward
• Imperfect Foods acquisition by Misfits Market
• SeaSpine acquisition by Orthofix
• Medtronic acquisition of Medicrea International
• Synergy Health plc merger with STERIS Corporation
• CAE Inc. in acquisition of Bombardier flight-training assets
• HCL Technologies acquisition of assets from IBM
• First Solar sale of O&M Services business to NovaSource
• TrendKite acquisition by Cision
• Dunbar Armored acquisition by Brink's
• Verifi acquisition by Visa
• Takeda acquisition of TiGenix
• Server Technology acquisition by Legrand S.A.
• Maxwell Technologies acquisition by Tesla
• Emergent Biosolutions acquisition of smallpox vaccine from Sanofi
• Vision Ease sale to Hoya Corporation 
• John Menzies acquisition of BBA Aviation
• Polynt in merger with Reichhold
• QUALCOMM acquisition of EPCOS
• INEOS acquisition of Calabrian Corporation
• Xchanging plc sale to Computer Sciences Corporation
• Exelon acquisition of ConEd retail energy business
• DTS Sale to Tessera Technologies
• Owens Corning acquisition of InterWrap
• Ovivo sale to Skion Water International
• QUALCOMM acquisitions of Emu and Capstone
• Vertellus sale to Black Diamond
• Blackhawk acquisition of GiftCards.com
• MediaOcean sale to Vista Equity Partners
• EagleView Technology Corporation sale to Vista Equity Partners
• InterContinental Hotels Group acquisition of Kimpton Hotels
• Emergent BioSolutions acquisition of Cangene Corporation
• EdgeCast Networks acquisition by Verizon
• OptiMedica sale to Abbott Laboratories
• Orchard Supply sale to Lowe's
• BioFire Diagnostics sale to Biomérieux S.A.
• Convio, Inc. merger with Blackbaud, Inc.
• Hypercom Corporation merger with VeriFone Systems, Inc.
• PopCap Games acquisition by Electronic Arts
• Qualcomm sale of spectrum assets to AT&T
• Radiant Systems acquisition by NCR
• Applied Signal Technology acquisition by Raytheon
• Life Technologies Corporation sale of mass spectrometry joint venture to Danaher Corporation
• JDA Software Group acquisition of i2 Technologies
• The Hain Celestial Group acquisition of Gourmet Marketing
• ZeniMax acquisition of id Software
• Chesapeake Sciences Corporation acquisition by L3 Communications
• Invitrogen (nka Life Technologies) acquisition of Applied Biosystems
• JDA Software acquisition of Manugistics
• Swedish Match acquisition of Cigars International and formation of a joint venture with Scandinavian Tobacco
• Aggregate Industries acquisition by Holcim
• Cross Match acquisition by Smiths Group

Significant antitrust litigation engagements include:

• In re A2P SMS Antitrust Litigation Defense of an SMS messaging aggregator in private class action alleging price-fixing and concerted boycott conspiracy in connection with application-to-person SMS transmissions
• In re Optical Disk Drive Products Antitrust Litigation Defense of an optical disk drive supplier in private class actions alleging price-fixing conspiracies in violation of the Sherman Act
• In re Linerboard Antitrust Litigation Represented a major US poultry processor in multi-district litigation alleging price-fixing and output restrictions among major US linerboard producers
• In re Methionine Antitrust Litigation Obtained substantial recovery for a major US poultry processor in multi-district litigation alleging an international price-fixing conspiracy among feed additives suppliers
• In re Vitamins Antitrust Litigation Advised a major US poultry processor in a complex class action alleging price-fixing among suppliers of vitamins and obtained reduction in class counsel fees as a percentage of the client's recovery
• Avitech, LLC v. Embrex, Inc. Successfully defended a patentee against monopolization counterclaims in a patent dispute. Counterclaims were dismissed
• East Side Vend Distributors v. Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., et al. Represented a major US bottling company in defending a price discrimination lawsuit brought by a regional distributor
• Kelley v. Thompson McCully Co., et al. Successfully defended a multinational construction materials supplier against a private lawsuit alleging price-fixing and market allocation agreements