Riccardo Celli
Partner
Riccardo Celli is Head of O’Melveny’s Brussels office and Chair of the Firm’s European Antitrust and Competition Practice. He joined O’Melveny in June 2004 as managing partner of the Firm’s Brussels office.
Riccardo has practiced in Brussels since 1992 and has lengthy experience advising on competition law. He has worked for many of the world’s largest corporations and has been involved in high-profile cases covering all main areas of EU competition law (Article 82, mergers, and cartel cases), achieving headline-grabbing results for clients. Most recently, Riccardo led the O’Melveny-Brussels team that advised AMD in its Article 82 complaint against Intel that culminated on May 13, 2009 when the European Commission fined Intel a record €1.06 billion (US$1.44 billion) for its anti-competitive practices.
Riccardo represents clients in proceedings before the European Commission (EC) and the European Union (EU) courts, as well as the UK and Italian competition and regulatory authorities. His practice also includes regulatory work, particularly in the energy and transport sectors, as well as advising on general EU law and public procurement.
Prior to O’Melveny, Riccardo’s professional experience includes six years in the Rome office of a major Italian law firm, followed by 15 years with international law firm Norton Rose, where he was managing partner of their Brussels office for eight years.
He is recognized as one of the world’s leading lawyers in the field of competition law in many specialized publications, including Chambers Europe, Chambers Global, Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Competition and Antitrust Lawyers, European Legal Experts, Global Competition Review, PLC Which Lawyer? and International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers. He was recently recognized as runner-up “Litigator of the Week” by American Lawyer Litigation Daily for his work on the AMD/Intel case.
Illustrative Professional Experience
EC Merger Control
- Representing Apollo Management, L.P. in relation to its US$1 billion investment in NCL Corporation, Ltd.
- Advising on antitrust issues related to the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. Pte Ltd.’s consortium bid of £10.3 billion/US$18.5 billion for BAA Plc, the world's largest airport operator.
- Representing Honeywell International Inc. in relation to merger control issues for its US$2.4 billion acquisition of British industrial holding company Novar plc.
- Representing Norsk Hydro ASA in obtaining merger control clearances in the EU and U.S. for the merger of its oil and gas activities with Statoil ASA -- a US$30 billion deal creating one of the largest offshore oil and gas operators in the world.
- Representing Norsk Hydro ASA in obtaining unconditional phase II clearance in relation to its US$1 billion sale of Kerling AS to UK-based INEOS, as well as in one of the very few “gun-jumping” investigations ever carried out by the EC.
- Representing SanDisk in relation to its acquisition of msystems in an all-stock deal worth US$1.5 billion.
Cartels
- Obtaining the acquittal of Firma Léon van Parys, the European importer of "Bonita" bananas, of all charges in the EC banana cartel investigation following dawn raids in 2005 and extensive follow-up inquiries prior to the issuance of formal charges in mid 2007.
- Successfully representing a defendant in the GFU price fixing and market sharing case where the Commission closed the investigation against our client without imposing sanctions, while negotiating settlement with several other companies involved in the investigation.
- Successfully representing a client in the industrial gases price fixing and market sharing case, in which the Commission closed the investigation against our client without imposing sanctions, while proceeding to impose fines against other companies involved.
- Successfully representing a client in the PVC II price fixing case, in which the Commission closed the investigation without imposing any sanctions.
- Successfully representing a client in the UK freight surcharges (ferries) price fixing matter, in which the Commission closed the investigation without imposing sanctions.
Abuse of Dominance
- Representing Advanced Micro Devices in its Article 82 complaint against Intel, in which the European Commission recently fined Intel a record €1.06 billion (US$1.44 billion) for its anti-competitive practices. This is the largest ever fine imposed by an antitrust regulator.
Professional Activities
Member, Consiglio dell'Ordine degli Avvocati, Law Society of England and Wales; Brussels Bar; American Bar Association; International Bar Association; European Lawyers' Union (UAE)
Recent Publications, "EU Energy,"
GCR European Antitrust Review (2007-08); "Multi-jurisdictional Merger Control,"
PLC Cross-Border Competition Handbook (2004-07); "Strengthened Cartel Enforcement in the EU,"
IBA Competition Law International (2006)
Recent Speaking Engagements, “The Impact of Foreign Antitrust Laws on Chinese Companies & Investors,” China International Trust and Investment Company (2008); “Antitrust Panel Discussion,” Seventh Annual China Import and Export Enterprise Conference and Service Trading Symposium (2008); “EU Antitrust Litigation and Class Actions: Where is Europe Going and What Can We Learn From the US Antitrust Experience,”
Global Competition Review Conference (2008)
Events, Invited to participate as a non-governmental advisor to the International Competition Network’s 8
th Annual Conference