REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
Ayman Guirguis
Merger Clearance
Obtained ACCC clearance for a digital health provider's acquisition of Medical Director (supply of practice management services to GPs).
Obtained ACCC clearance for Visy Industries' acquisition of Owens-Illinois' glass manufacturing and beneficiation business in Australia.
Obtained ACCC clearance for Sinch's acquisition of Message Media (supply of wholesale and retail broadcast SMS services to business).
Obtained ACCC clearance for Americold's proposed acquisition of Agro Coldstores/Doboy; seeking ACCC clearance for Americold's proposed acquisition of Lago (both transactions, involve the supply of third party cold storage services).
Acted for GlobalX and obtained ACCC clearance for Dye & Durham's proposed acquisition of GlobalX (supply of search services to law firms and banks, conveyancing software services and practice management software to law firms).
Obtained ACCC clearance for a leading provider of water and wastewater treatment solutions in the sale of its water business to Dupont (supply of water treatment services).
Acted for a provider of data and telecommunications services in the ACCC court proceedings regarding the acquisition of a telecommunications company.
Acted for BlueScope Steel in the ACCC court proceedings regarding the acquisition of Aurizon's intermodal logistics business by Pacific National.
Obtained ACCC clearance for Continental AG's proposed acquisition of Kmart Tyre and Auto network (the supply of tyre retailing services).
Advised Hotels Combined on its sale to Booking Holdings (Booking.com).
Acted for BASF in its acquisition of the divested assets from the merger of two agrochemical companies (the supply of agri-products and ancillary products).
Obtained ACCC clearance for the sale of the Milemaker retail petrol network to Caltex (supply of petrol retailing).
Advised Landmark Holdings on its acquisition of Louis Dreyfus' Macrofertil business (supply of wholesale fertilizer services).
Obtained ACCC clearance for acquisitions by Qscan in the medical imaging and radiology markets in Australia (supply of medical diagnostics services).
Obtained ACCC clearance for acquisitions by Superior Food Services in foodservice markets in Australia (supply of foodservices distribution).
Obtained ACCC clearance for Archer Daniels Midland's proposed AUD3.4 billion takeover of GrainCorp (supply of grain storage services).
Obtained ACCC clearance for the sale of Australian Power & Gas to AGL (supply of energy retailing services).
Obtained ACCC clearance for a publicly traded international oil and gas company's sale of its Australian retail assets to Caltex and ultimately to 7-Eleven (supply of petrol retailing).
Advised IOOF on merger control issues and on the acquisition of an interest in Equity Trustees (supply of trust services).
Obtained ACCC clearance in Australia and New Zealand for the proposed acquisition by Visy Industries of the plastics business of HP Industries (supply of single stage plastics manufacture).
Obtained ACCC clearance for a number of acquisitions by HP (supply of IT hardware).
Investigations, Litigation and Advisory
Successfully sought clearance in Australia from the ACCC, and in New Zealand from the NZ Commerce Commission for HP for certain resale price maintenance on HP Online Stores and HP Stores on online market places – this is the first such clearance in NZ and only the second in Australia; Obtained clearance for HP from the ACCC for resale price maintenance conduct on HP Online Stores.
Successfully sought clearance/authorisation from the ACCC allowing National Pharmaceutical Services Association (NPSA) and the four major pharmaceutical wholesalers in Australia to collaborate and if required limit supplies of certain medicines in the face of spikes in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to collectively negotiate with Australia's Department of Health regarding arrangements for the distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines.
Acted for Engage Marine, new entrant into towage and shipping pilotage, in the ACCC's first prosecution under the new Misuse of Market Power provisions.
Defended Landmark in a prosecution by the ACCC alleging misleading conduct in the marketing of barley.
Advised rental car companies (Thrifty, Europcar, Enterprise) in seeking clearance/authorisation from the ACCC to collectively negotiate terms with Cairns Airport.
Advised major engineered stone manufacturers (Caesarstone, Smartstone and WK Marble and Granite) in seeking clearance/authorisation from the ACCC to require fabricator accreditation and potential refusal to supply.
Advised HP in an investigation by the ACCC into the installation of firmware into HP printers to limit use of cartridges with non-HP chips.
Successfully sought clearance/authorisation from the ACCC for Clubs Australia in its application to the ACCC to collectively negotiate with suppliers including Tabcorp and Foxtel.
Advising Belkin following an investigation by the ACCC into Belkin's warranty practices and in Australia and worldwide to effect a safety recall of a portable wireless charger.
Advised Visy Industries in an investigation by the ACCC into Unfair Contract Terms in the waste management industry.
Defended ExxonMobil in Australia’s largest 'dawn raids' by the ACCC alleging price fixing in the petroleum and bitumen industries and successfully defending proceedings commenced by the ACCC alleging price fixing.
Advised an international Investment Bank in the ACCC's investigation of cartel conduct into foreign exchange and other bank benchmark rates.
Advising senior executives of JP Morgan in the ACCC's/ Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions' (CDPP) prosecution of a number of banks alleging into cartel conduct in financial services in respect of a capital raising.
Acted for Peak Care (and one of its executives) in the criminal prosecution by the ACCC/ CDPP of Country Care for cartel conduct.
Advising the immunity applicant in an ACCC prosecution alleging cartel conduct in the supply of steel products in Australia.
Defended HP in proceedings commenced by the ACCC alleging misleading or deceptive conduct and breaches of the Australian Consumer Guarantee regime.
Advised LPO Group on collective negotiation issues and seeking Authorisation from the ACCC for collective negotiations with Australia Post.
Advising Honda Australia on its response to Australia wide airbag recalls.
Advising clients on investigations by the ACCC in the IT, agriculture, car rental and travel industries.
Defended Campbell Arnott’s in an ACCC investigation of claims by its biscuit business.
Defended Australian Power & Gas in proceedings commenced by the ACCC alleging misleading and deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct.
Advised ANZ Banking Group in relation to various enquiries and ACCC litigation and, more generally; and advising its consumer business on credit card and ATM issues, as well as other suppliers of financial services including Macquarie Bank, UBS and GE.
Advising industry associations such as the Australian Medical Association, the Australian Dental Association and the Australian Steel Institute regarding various competition issues and initiatives.
Compliance Program Rollout and Training
Rolled out national compliance programs for HP, Visy Industries, Honda Australia, Belkin, CIMIC/Leighton Group companies, De-Longhi and Medical Media.
Provided compliance training to Americold, ANZ, Medibank, GMHBA, Leidos, McDonald Jones Homes, Porter Davis, Carlisle Homes and Stockland.
