Dr. Michael Engel
Overview
Dr. Michael Engel is a partner in the Antitrust and Competition team in London. He represents clients before the European Commission, the German Federal Cartel Office and the UK Competition and Markets Authority.
Michael advises on the full spectrum of competition law, in particular European Union, German, UK and multi-jurisdictional merger control, cartels, State aid and compliance as well as foreign direct investment matters. Michael has extensive experience in advising on multi-jurisdictional merger reviews. His contentious experience includes advising clients in the context of cartel and state aid investigations, appeals of European Commission decisions to the Court of Justice of the European Union and follow-on damages actions before national courts.
Chambers and Partners have ranked Michael as ‘Up and Coming‘ (2022). Michael was further recognised by Lexology who named him as the winner of the 2021 Client Choice Award for the category ‘Competition & Antitrust in the U.K.‘ Additionally, Who’s Who Legal has identified Michael as one of the UK’s leading competition law practitioners and recognised him as ‘Global Leader‘ in Competition (2021 and 2022) and ‘Future Leader’ (2020) where he was noted as “a highly recommended competition lawyer who gives sound and intelligent legal advice, and is very thorough and methodical”. The Legal 500 (2022) has recognised Michael as one of the key lawyers of Kirkland & Ellis’ Antitrust and Competition team who is “highly committed and very collaborative”.
Prior to joining Kirkland & Ellis, Michael practiced competition law in the London office of Sullivan & Cromwell and also gained experience in-house at Goldman Sachs’s Investment Banking Legal Division in London.
Experience
Representative Matters
Prior to and since joining Kirkland, Michael’s representative matters include:
- SVP Global on its pending sale of the Eastern European business of its portfolio company Pfleiderer, a manufacturer of engineered wood for furniture and construction, by its Austrian competitor Kronospan
- American Securities and its portfolio company, Prince International Corporation, on the $2.1 billion acquisition of Ferro Corporation and subsequent merger with Chromaflo, which resulted in the creation of one of the largest surface coatings and specialty chemicals companies in the world
- Noble Corporation on its acquisition of Maersk Drilling
- American Securities on its acquisition of Hexion, a global producer of adhesives, resins and specialty materials
- Thoma Bravo on its acquisition of financial software provider Calypso Technology
- Oak Street on its $15 billion acquisition of STORE Capital
- Ares Management on its investment in Ryan
- Abry Partners on its investment in Inoapps
- EQT on its investment in the insurance provider CFC Group alongside Vitruvian Partners
- KKR on its investment in OutSystems
- Genstar Capital on its acquisition of joint control with GI Partners of Daxko
- H.I.G. Capital on its acquisition of Oxford Global Resources
- Rhône Capital’s investment in Wahoo Fitness
- The satellite company Intelsat on its $7 billion restructuring
- Macquarie on its acquisition of certain infrastructure assets in Europe and the US
- Guidepost Growth Equity on its lead role in a $150 million round of funding for Atheneum
- Twilio on its $750 million investment in Syniverse
- Genstar Capital and its portfolio company 2020 Technologies on its merger with Compusoft
- L Catterton on its acquisition of the German footwear manufacturer BIRKENSTOCK Group
- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on its $50 billion merger with PSA Group
- Praxair on its $90 billion business combination with Linde
- Bayer on its $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto
- Teva Pharmaceuticals on its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan’s generics business
- Alcatel-Lucent on its $16.6 billion business combination with Nokia
- LAN Airlines on its $13 billion merger with the Brazilian airline TAM
- ZF Friedrichshafen on its $12.4 billion acquisition of TRW Automotive Holdings
- Navistar on the $3.9 billion acquisition by Volkswagen Group’s trucks division Traton
- Fiat Chrysler Finance Europe in connection with the European Commission’s state aid investigation regarding Luxembourg’s tax rulings and its subsequent appeals before the General Court (Case T-759/15) and the Court of Justice (Case C-885/19)
- CNH Industrial/Iveco and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in the European Commission’s trucks cartel investigation and related multi-national follow-on damages litigation across the EU
- Goldman Sachs on a variety of transactions including its acquisition of the software company EcoOnline together with Summa Equity; on its acquisition of the software company Nuxeo together with Kennet Partners; on its acquisition of Hamlet Protein together with Altor Funds; on its acquisition of the insurance company Rothesay together with Blackstone; on its acquisition of Hastings Insurance Group; in its acquisition of joint control over the Danish energy company DONG Energy together with the Kingdom of Denmark; on its acquisition of Ontex together with TPG Capital; on its acquisition of BNL Sciences and BrandNu Laboratories by its portfolio company Caldic; on its investment in the Eastern European retail company Fix Price; on its acquisition of B&B Hotels; on its acquisition of the insurance company Aston Lark; on its acquisition of a stake in the fashion company Modanisa; on a bolt-on acquisition of the pharmaceutical portfolio company Mederma; and on its acquisitions of a number of real estate portfolios and loan portfolios
- Mubadala on the formation of the joint venture Azaliya with Veolia Eau; and the formation of a joint venture with Pramerica Financial
- Silver Lake Partners on its acquisition of a 65% interest in Skype Technologies from eBay
- Rhône Capital on its acquisition of Evonik’s carbon black business together with Triton; on its acquisition of CSM’s bakery supplies business; on its acquisition of the corporate training company GK Holdings; on its acquisition of the pool cleaning equipment company Zodiac Pool Holding and on its acquisition of the logistics and supply chain service provider Neovia together with Goldman Sachs
- Ares and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan on its $1.5 billion acquisition of the building materials manufacturer CPG International
- Lion Capital on its acquisition of a stake in Authentic Brands Group
- Tinicum on its acquisition of the electronic components manufacturer AMI Doduco; and the $1.5 billion acquisition of its portfolio company Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing by Stanley Back & Decker
- Cytec Industries on the $1.1 billion sale of its coating raisins business to Advent International
- Solera Holdings on its $6.5 billion acquisition by Vista Equity Partners
- Colson Medical Companies on the $2 billion acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway
- Standard Industries on its $1.2 billion acquisition of the roofing products company Braas Monier
- Chevron on its $2.1 billion sale of its North Sea oil and gas assets to Delek Group’s subsidiary Ithaca Energy
- TLG Immobilien on its acquisition of shares in Germany’s largest commercial real estate company Aroundtown and its subsequent EUR 25 billion merger with Aroundtown
- CyrusOne on $0.5 billion acquisition of Zenium Data Centers
- Terumo Corporation on its $1.2 billion acquisition of healthcare assets divested by Abbott Laboratories and St. Jude Medical
- Concordia Healthcare Corporation on its $2.1 billion acquisition of Amdipharm Mercury
- Philips Healthcare on its $1 billion acquisition of Volcano Corporation
- Elis on its EUR 2.6 billion acquisition of Berendsen
- INC Research Holdings on its $7.4 billion acquisition of inVentiv Health
- Drillisch on its EUR 8.25 billion business combination with United Internet
- CNH Industrial on its acquisition of Kongskilde Industries’ agricultural and farm equipment business
- Diebold on its EUR 1.7 billion acquisition of Wincor Nixdorf
- Insight Enterprises on its $0.2 billion acquisition of Datalink Corporation
- Hay Group on its $0.4 billion acquisition by Korn Ferry
- Castleton Commodities International on its $1.5 billion acquisition of Morgan Stanley's global oil merchanting business
- Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdings on its $1 billion acquisition of SCOR
- Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing on its $0.4 billion acquisition of Bristol Industries
- Derichbourg on the sale of its ground handling division Servisair to PAI Partners
- Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation on its $1.5 billion acquisition, along with ArcelorMittal, of ThyssenKrupp’s steel manufacturing operations in the U.S.
- APR Energy on its acquisition of General Electric’s temporary power generation rental business
- Sempra Energy on the $2.7 billion sale of its global metals and oil as well as the European power and gas businesses of its RBS-Sempra global commodities JV to J.P. Morgan Ventures Energy Corporation
- American Express in connection with the formation of a joint venture with Vente-Privée
- CPTN Holdings (a Microsoft-led consortium) on its $0.5 billion acquisition of patents and patent applications from Novell
- Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corporation in connection with the formation of a $0.7 billion joint venture with Quadra FNX Mining
- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group in connection with the formation of two securities joint ventures with Morgan Stanley
- Fiat on its acquisition of General Motors’s Polish diesel engine business
- Occidental Petroleum on its acquisition of Phibro from Citigroup
- Mitsui in connection with the formation of a joint venture with the steel manufacturer Nucor
- Magneti Marelli in the European Commission’s cartel investigation into the exhaust systems sector
Clerk & Government Experience
ReferendarEuropean Commission, Directorate-General for Competition, Mergers Unit D4, Brussels2005
Prior Experience
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, Frankurt am Main and London, 2009–2020
Goldman Sachs International, Investment Banking Legal Division, London, 2007–2009
More
Recognition
Recognized as “Recommended” in the UK (Global Competition Review 100 – 2022)
Winner of the 2021 Client Choice Award for the category “Competition & Antitrust in the U.K.” (Lexology – 2021)
Ranked as “Up and Coming” for Competition Law (Chambers UK – 2022)
Michael Engel is consistently lauded as “a highly recommended competition lawyer who gives sound and intelligent legal advice, and is very thorough and methodical”. (Who’s Who Legal, Competition – Future Leaders 2020)
Clients of Michael Engel are “most impressed by his very broad and well-rounded competition law expertise and his impressive diplomatic skills”. He is described as “clearly a standout; a sharp-minded competition lawyer who consistently demonstrates excellent thinking" and as a “great pleasure to work with”. (Who’s Who Legal, Competition – Future Leaders 2019)
Memberships & Affiliations
Non-Governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network appointed by the UK Competition and Markets Authority
European Competition Lawyers Forum
Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht e.V.
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2010, Admitted to Practice as a Solicitor of England and Wales
- 2006, Germany (Rechtsanwalt)
- Brussels (EU List)
Languages
- German
- English
- French
Education
- Ludwig Maximilians University MunichDr. jur.magna cum laude2008
- State of Lower SaxonySecond German State Examination2006
- Ruprecht Karls University HeidelbergFirst German State Examination2004Konrad Adenauer Foundation Scholar