Robbert Snelders

Prior to joining Kirkland, Robbert’s representative experience included:

Cartel Investigations

• The first-ever EU leniency application (lysine), the first-ever EU cartel settlement decision (DRAMs, for SK Hynix) and the first-ever EU cartel settlement decision after issuance of a formal statement of objections (trucks, for Volvo), as well as cartel matters spanning a broad range of industries (including the financial services, lysine, nucleotide, faucets, bitumen, wax, DRAM, optical disk drives, bearings and other automotive components, gasoline, natural gas, trucks, optical disk drives, shipping and tobacco sectors)
• Recent agency highlights: Citigroup in the EU investigations of alleged FX Spot, Yen Libor and Euribor rate manipulation and the EU investigation of CDS data licensing; NSK in an EU cartel settlement concerning bearings; K-Line in an EU cartel settlement concerning maritime car carriers; and Synthomer in an EU buyer cartel settlement concerning styrene monomer)
• Cartel appeal highlights: securing a €20 million fine reduction for ExxonMobil before the EU General Court in the paraffin wax cartel matter; securing a partial annulment before the EU Court of Justice for Sony of an EC cartel decision relating to optical disk drives

M&A and Alliance Cases – Representing:

• Google in Google/Wiz; Google/Fitbit
• IBM in IBM/Software AG; IBM/RedHat; IBM/Cognos; IBM/Telelogic; IBM/Rational; IBM/Informix; IBM/PWC; IBM/Maersk Line
• Synopsys in Synopsys/Ansys
• Booking Holdings in Booking Holdings/ETG (appeal before EU courts)
• Mittal in Mittal/Arcelor; ArcelorMittal/Ilva
• Exxon in Exxon/Mobil; ExxonMobil/XTO
• GM in GM/Opel/PSA; GM/Fiat
• AB InBev in AB InBev/Anadolu Efes
• Nokia in Nokia/Siemens; Nokia/Trolltech
• Samsung Electronics in Samsung Electronics/HP
• Philip Morris in Philip Morris/Nabisco
• Alitalia in Alitalia/Air France
• Suntory in Suntory/Beam

Unilateral Conduct and Behavioral Investigations

• Google for nearly two decades across many of the company’s major European and worldwide matters, including an EU investigation covering virtually all aspects of Google’s business and related litigation, including its appeals before the EU General Court and Court of Justice challenging the EC’s Google Search (Shopping) decision
• IBM for over two decades across many of the company’s major European matters, including its successful defense against a series of high-profile antitrust complaints before the EU in the area of mainframe emulation, mainframe pricing, and maintenance services for mainframes and midrange servers
• ASML for well over a decade across a range of antitrust and counselling matters
• Booking Holdings and Booking.com in their compliance with the EU Digital Markets Act and other tech regulations and a range of other counselling and regulatory questions in Europe and internationally
• Sony BMG in its successful defense in the 2010 EU investigation of its online licensing arrangements with Apple’s iTunes platform
• Sony in an Article 101/102 investigation into Blu-ray and HD-DVD standard setting
• Walt Disney in EU investigations of MFN clauses with pay-TV broadcasters and virtual print fees for digital cinema
• Philips in connection with an EU investigation of an IP licensing program
• Dassault Systèmes, Salesforce and other software, IT and telecom firms in various matters including EU investigations