Overview

Corvane Ryle's Merger Control team helps companies and sponsors obtain regulatory clearance for acquisitions, joint ventures and minority investments. We work with the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, the European Commission, the UK Competition and Markets Authority, and agencies across Asia, Latin America and Africa, and we plan filings so that approvals arrive in time for the deal's timetable.

The US process has changed. The new Hart-Scott-Rodino filing form, in effect since early 2025, asks for more information about transaction rationale, overlaps and supply relationships, and deal teams are now preparing for it earlier and in more detail. Agencies are also looking closely at vertical effects, serial acquisitions and the role of data. We advise on how to prepare the filing, manage a second request and, where necessary, litigate.

In Europe and the UK, jurisdiction is expanding. National authorities and the European Commission have new tools to review below-threshold transactions, and the CMA has refocused its approach to remedies and to global deals. Foreign direct investment screening runs in parallel. We build one coordinated plan that covers merger control, foreign investment and, where relevant, sector regulators.

Our lawyers have secured clearance for transactions in retail, technology, healthcare, energy and financial services, including cases that involved remedies, divestitures and extended review. We also advise on pre-signing questions: the antitrust risk allocation in the purchase agreement, ordinary-course covenants, gun-jumping and the handling of competitively sensitive information.

Priya Raghunathan in London and Lucia Ferrante in Brussels lead the team, working with colleagues in Washington, D.C., New York and San Francisco. They advise clients from Halvern Retail Group to private equity sponsors on transactions of every size.

Key lawyers

Our merger control team operates across London, Brussels and the United States.

• Priya Raghunathan, Partner, London
• Lucia Ferrante, Partner, Brussels

Representative experience

• Obtained unconditional clearance from the FTC for Halvern Retail Group's acquisition of Brightmoor Foods.
• Secured Phase 1 clearance from the European Commission for a cross-border consumer goods merger.
• Advised a technology company on a CMA Phase 2 review and negotiated remedies.
• Managed a second request and obtained clearance for a healthcare services acquisition.
• Coordinated merger control filings in 24 jurisdictions for a global logistics transaction.
• Advised Northwall Capital on antitrust and foreign investment clearance for the acquisition of Larkspur Apparel.
• Defended an acquirer in a federal court challenge to a vertical merger.