Athina Van Melkebeke

Athina’s representative matters have included advising:

Merger Control

• Consortium of CVC Private Equity Funds, Nordic Capital and ADIA on the announcement of a £5.4 billion recommended cash acquisition of Hargreaves Lansdown
• Blackstone, Rivean and Enstall on the acquisition of Schletter Group
• Marathon Oil on the agreement to be acquired by ConocoPhillips for $22.5 billion
• iQor on the sale of a majority stake to Mill Point Capital
• Appgate to confirm Chapter 11 plan and emerge from Chapter 11 restructuring
• Lyra Bidco on the acquisition of Hipgnosis
• Bain Capital Tech Opportunities on its majority investment in finova and its simultaneous acquisition of MSO
• Oaktree Capital Management on the acquisition of Electro-Mechanical Corporation
• Calyx Services on the acquisition of Invicro from Konica Minolta
• WHP Global on the joint acquisition of rag & bone
• Fengate Private Equity on its acquisition of Saco Foods Holdings
• Olympus on the sale of AmSpec
• Quantum Capital Group on the formation of a midstream partnership with Comstock
• Centerbridge Partners on the sale of its majority interests in APCOA
• Bain Capital Private Equity and US LBM on the sale of a stake in US LBM to Platinum Equity
• Hipgnosis Songs Capital on its proposed acquisition of 29 music catalogs from SONG
• Virgin Voyages on its $550 million capital raise
• WHP Global on its acquisition of a majority interest in the G-Star RAW
• NexTier Oilfield Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: NEX) in its $5.4 billion merger of equals with Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN)
• Bain and Diversey on the sale of Diversey to Solenis, a portfolio company of Platinum Equity, for $4.6 billion
• Ares Management and WHP Global on Ares’ $375 million equity investment in WHP Global
• NortonLifeLock on its c. $25 billion combination with Avast
• Celanese Corporation on global merger control for its $1.15 billion proposed acquisition of the Santoprene™ TPV elastomers business of Exxon Mobil Corporation
• Bain Capital and Cinven on their CHF 4.2 billion acquisition of Lonza Specialty Ingredients
• Victoria’s Secret & Co. on acquisition of Adore Me, Inc.
• Alpine Investors and its portfolio company Alpine Software Group on the acquisition of Sendible, a leading UK social media management and data analytics provider
• Antin Infrastructure Partners on:
  • the acquisition of Wildstone, a leading owner of independent outdoor media infrastructure in the UK, from DigitalBridge Group
  • its reinvestment in Eurofiber, one of the leading B2B digital infrastructure companies in Europe, including the sale of a minority stake to PGGM
• Arxada, Bain Capital and Cinven on Arxada’s Combination with Troy Corporation, a global leader in microbial control solutions and performance additives
• Bain Capital on:
  • the acquisition of a controlling stake in Eleda
  • its portfolio company Rocket Software’s acquisition of OpenText’s application modernization and connectivity business
  • its acquisition of Harrington Process Solutions
  • the disposition of its equity stake in Quest Global Services Pte. Ltd., one of the world’s leading engineering services firms
  • the $1.1 billion acquisition of Brazilian steakhouse brand Fogo de Chão
  • the €955.3 million public takeover of Caverion Corporation
  • the c. €1.7 billion acquisition of ITP Aero, an aero engine and gas turbine manufacturer, from Rolls-Royce
  • the significant equity investment in EcoCeres, Inc
  • the change from sole to joint control of Fedrigoni with BC Partners
  • the sale of a significant equity stake in Imperial Dade to Advent International
  • its investment in SumUp
  • the acquisition of LeanTaas
  • the sale of Geometric Results, Inc. to PRO Unlimited
  • its portfolio company Rocket Software’s acquisition of Uniface, a pioneer in accelerating innovation through its low-code application platform
• Bain Capital Double Impact in its investment in Meteor Education
• Bain Capital Private Equity and its portfolio company, Blue Nile, in connection with its sale to Signet Jewelers Ltd
• Bain Capital and its consortium partners on their €2.1 billion public takeover of Ahlstrom-Munksjö Oyj
• Blackstone on:
  • the acquisition of a majority stake in VFS Global, a global leader in visa outsourcing services
  • the $4.73 billion take private of Signature Aviation, the world’s largest fixed base operation network for business & general aviation travelers
  • the £4.77 billion acquisition of Merlin Entertainments, a global leader in location-based, family entertainment
• EQT on:
  • the £4.5 billion recommended cash offer for the entire ordinary share capital of Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC
  • its acquisition of Dellner Couplers, a global leader in train connection systems for passenger rail
  • the CHF 10.2 billion acquisition of Nestlé Skin Health, a leading global skincare company
• EQT Credit on its investment in and the restructuring and recapitalization of ACPS Automotive GmbH
• Inflexion on its re-investment in the British Engineering Services Group, a specialist in engineering testing, inspection and consultancy services
• Express, Inc. on its transformative strategic partnership with WHP Global
• Oaktree on:
  • their affiliates out-of-court restructuring transaction involving REEF Technology, Inc.
  • the acquisition of Interblock, d.d., a leading developer and supplier of luxury electronic table games
  • the entry into a definitive business combination agreement by a special purpose acquisition company with Alvotech Holdings S.A. (“Alvotech”), a leading global biopharmaceutical company
• Pinnacle Renewable Energy, the Toronto-listed entity, on its $652 million acquisition by Drax Group plc
• Triton Partners on the acquisition of the tour operating activities of Corendon and combination with Sunweb
• Warburg Pincus on the sale of Accelya, a leading global provider of financial, commercial and analytics solutions to the airline and travel industry, to Vista Partners
• Providence Equity Partners on its investment in Wasserman

Antitrust

• Advising Avaya Holdings Corp. on its strategic partnership with RingCentral, Inc.
• Advising multiple clients on competition law compliance
• Advising a global industrial company to address competitors’ exclusionary conduct following its entry into the European market
• Advising various clients on participation in standard-setting initiatives, including advice to the DCSA container liner shipping initiative

Prior to joining Kirkland, Athina’s experience has included advising:

• Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile in the proposed acquisition of Sprint, creating a $146 billion company
• Abbott Laboratories in its $25 billion acquisition of St. Jude Medical, involving merger clearances in the EU and more than a dozen jurisdictions
• Coca-cola in the dissolution of its Beverage Partners Worldwide joint venture with Nestlé and other transactions notifiable in the EU
• Merger control in the EU and various other jurisdictions in the steel, chemicals, and other sectors, including coordinating foreign investment filings
• Advising an FMCG client during the course of parallel cartel investigations in Europe
• Compliance advice including in the context of pre-transaction dealings, hold separate requirements, distribution agreements, and common ownership scenarios
• Responding to various information requests from the European Commission and national competition authorities, including in the context of an abuse of dominance investigation of a European technology champion and in connection with a review of conditions imposed in a merger context
• Antitrust advice in connection with IP litigation and follow-on damages claims

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

• Associate (2014–2019)