Rikki Haria

Profil Rikki Haria

Rikki assists clients before UK and EU regulators and courts across the full range of competition law matters, including merger control and foreign investment reviews, antitrust investigations, market inquiries and new digital regulation. He helps clients take a holistic approach to navigate the growing interplay between antitrust, data privacy, consumer protection and IP laws.

As a member of the firm's global tech practice and having spent time working in Silicon Valley, Rikki advises a broad range of tech and digital platform businesses, including on global merger reviews, regulatory investigations, and strategic issues with significant implications for their commercial objectives. He also has strong sector expertise in telecoms, financial services, retail and consumer products.

Rikki is able to help clients navigate complex regulatory environments, including behavioural investigations, new digital regulation (such as the EU Digital Markets Act and forthcoming UK regime under the Digital Markets Unit) and emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence and the metaverse). He also regularly advises on high-profile and cross-border M&A, managing the process of securing merger control and foreign investment clearances around the world.

Rikki has extensive experience before the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and European Commission, including through his time on secondment to the CMA’s mergers unit. This enables him to formulate arguments that play well with decision makers and to approach difficult cases with innovative ideas and a calm demeanour.

Mandate

Rikki's experience includes advising:

• Adobe on the merger control aspects of its attempted $20 billion acquisition of Figma, including the in-depth Phase 2 reviews by the CMA and European Commission.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise on the global merger control and foreign investment aspects of its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks.
• MásMóvil on obtaining a Phase 2 approval from the European Commission for its €18.6bn joint venture with Orange to combine their operations in Spain, a landmark case in the telecommunications sector.
• Meta on its defence and successful resolution of the CMA's Chapter II investigation into Facebook’s Marketplace feature with data use commitments.
• Meta on its defence against the European Commission's Article 102 investigation into Facebook's Marketplace feature, including the response to the Statement of Objections.
• Meta on its appeal before the European General Court and ongoing further appeal before the European Court of Justice in relation to document demands from the European Commission, and Meta’s receipt of rarely granted interim relief from the President of the European General Court.
• Meta on its response to the CMA’s market study into online platforms and digital advertising.
• Verizon on the global antitrust and foreign investment aspects of the $5bn sale of Verizon Media to funds managed by Apollo Global Management, Inc.
• BT Group/Openreach on its rollout of full fibre broadband in the UK, and the share acquisitions by Altice.
• Tesco on the proposed sale of its banking operations and a long-term strategic partnership with Barclays.
• Tesco on obtaining an unconditional Phase 2 approval from the CMA in relation to its acquisition of Booker.
• Tesco on its strategic alliance with Carrefour.
• HSBC on various market studies and investigations, including the CMA’s Phase 2 market investigation into retail banking.
• Cazoo on a string of commercial projects and M&A deals around Europe.
• Houseful/Zoopla and RVU on their growth strategy and various acquisitions in relation to their property and digital comparison businesses, including Confused.com and Tempcover.
• CVC on the merger control and competition aspects of its strategic investments in the Premiership Rugby and PRO14 rugby competitions.
• Hellman & Friedman Advisors LLC on the European Commission's approval of its $6bn acquisition of payments platform Concardis.
• Boparan Private Office on obtaining an unconditional Phase 1 approval from the CMA in relation to its acquisition of Bernard Matthews.