Allen & Overy (A&O) is boosting its competition practice with the hire of a senior director from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
Simon Pritchard is set to join the magic circle firm in the New Year as a partner from the OFT, where he is currently senior director of mergers.
Pritchard’s experience covers UK antitrust matters as well as UK involvement in European merger control.
He most recently advised on the £357m acquisition of GCap Media by Global Radio and InBev’s $47bn (23.6bn) bid for US drinks giant Anheuser-Busch.
Other transactions he has advised on include Sky’s £940m stake in ITV and four London Stock Exchange bids.
Prior to joining the OFT Pritchard practiced with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in Brussels and Washington DC and at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. He joined the OFT in 2003 from Cleary’s Washington office.
His hire comes as A&O’s antitrust team has taken lead role on a number of large deals, including the proposed merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS.
Commenting on his arrival, London antitrust chief Mark Friend said: “[Pritchard] has seen the merger control process from both sides of the table and brings unique insight into how competition authorities think.”
He added: “We have had a great run of high profile merger cases; whilst M&A activity is now slower, we are already seeing more cartel work and an increase in state aid related work.”
A&O’s antitrust group currently has 17 partners worldwide, with four in London.
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