Michele Davis

Profil Michele Davis

Michele co-heads our Global Tech, Media and Telecoms sector group and assists clients before EU and UK regulators and courts across all aspects of EU and UK competition law, including merger control and foreign investment, Articles 101/102 and equivalent UK legislation, digital regulation, market/sector investigations and sector specific economic regulation.

Michele has particular experience of advising clients on complex M&A and investigations in the digital, telecoms, media, defence and energy sectors. Michele’s tech practice includes advising clients on new digital regulation, including the EU Digital Markets Act, and on the competition law and national security aspects of emerging technologies including artificial intelligence and quantum technology.  She has extensive experience in advising clients on navigating the UK’s public interest and national security regimes, in managing multiple competition and FDI reviews on multi-jurisdictional transactions, and in advising regulated companies on regulatory investigations and price control appeals.

Based in London, she is also a member of the Brussels bar and has spent time on secondment in our Beijing, Brussels and Washington DC offices.

Michele is ranked for UK competition law in Chambers and Partners, and recommended for EU and Competition law in the UK Legal 500, where she is named as a “Next Generation Partner.” She is also recommended for Competition Law in Who’s Who Legal: Competition 2023; recognised as a Global Elite Thought Leader in Foreign Investment Control in Who’s Who Legal: Foreign Investment Control 2023; and recognised as one of the 40 Notable Women Competition Professionals in Europe in Private Practice by Women AT’s 40 in their 40s publication. 

Mandate

• Advising a Global Technology Company on the CMA's cloud infrastructure market investigation, Ofcom’s cloud services market study, the CMA’s AI Foundation Models review, the EU Digital Markets Act and various global matters.
• Advising AVEVA Group plc on the antitrust and foreign investment aspects of its recommended takeover by Schneider Electric.
• Advising Parker-Hannifin on the global merger control and foreign investment clearances for its £6.3bn public offer for Meggitt, a manufacturer of aerospace and defence motion and control technologies, including obtaining EU and UK phase I merger clearances subject to competition remedies, with further national security remedies and economic undertakings given to the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
• Advising Gridserve on the CMA's Competition Act 1998 investigation relating to long-term exclusivity in the supply of electric vehicle chargepoints on or near motorways including the negotiation of commitments with the CMA.
• Advising Honeywell on the combination of Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum Computing and acquisition of a majority stake in the combined company.
• Advising Verizon on the global antitrust and foreign investment aspects of the $5bn sale of Verizon Media to funds managed by Apollo Global Management, Inc.
• Advising Allied Universal on the UK foreign investment aspects of its £3.8bn public bid for G4S plc.
• Advising SSE plc on the disposal of its energy-from-waste joint ventures to First Sentier Investments and the sale of a 25% stake in its electricity transmission network business to OTTP, and on various competition and regulatory matters in the electricity sector;
• Advising Nets A/S on the European Commission’s conditional clearance of Mastercard’s acquisition of Nets’ account to account payment business.
• Advising CK Hutchison on the European Commission’s investigation into its proposed acquisition of Telefonica UK and its subsequent successful appeal of the European Commission’s decision to the General Court of the European Union.
• Advising Berry Global on the global merger control and competition aspects of its £5.1bn public bid for RPC Group.
• Advising Comcast Corporation on the global merger control and public interest aspects of its £30bn public bid for Sky plc, including achieving unconditional Phase 1 clearance from the European Commission for the transaction, and the global merger control and public interest aspects of its $66bn bid for the global assets of 21^st Century Fox. Read more about the deal in our case study.
• Advising Experian plc on the CMA's Phase 2 investigation into its proposed acquisition of ClearScore.
• Advising the UK Government on the State aid, competition and regulatory aspects of Royal Mail’s privatisation including obtaining European Commission approval for the UK Government’s assumption of certain liabilities of Royal Mail’s pension scheme and its refinancing of the Royal Mail balance sheet.
• Advising a number of utility clients in relation to appeals of price control determinations to the CMA and regulatory/competition investigations.
• Advising a number of global financial institutions and private equity clients on the merger control, competition and regulatory aspects of various acquisitions in the UK regulated sectors.