Athina Van Melkebeke

Since joining Kirkland, Athina has been involved in the following matters:

Merger Control & Foreign Direct Investment

• Ardian on the acquisition of Energia Group
• Astorg on the take private of Hamilton Thorne and concurrent acquisition of Cook Medical Reproductive Health
• Avidity on the $12 billion sale to Novartis
• Bain Capital Private Equity:
  • on the acquisition of ITP Aero, an aero engine and gas turbine manufacturer, from Rolls-Royce for approximately €1.7 billion
  • and consortium partners on the €2.1 billion public takeover of Ahlstrom-Munksjö
  • and Kohlberg on the strategic investment in PCI Pharma Services
  • on the sale of a significant equity stake in Imperial Dade to Advent International
  • and Diversey on the sale of Diversity to Solenis for $4.6 billion
  • and 3M to form a JV and acquire Madison Fire for $1.95 billion
  • on the change from sole to joint control of Fedrigoni with BC Partners
  • on the investment in Tingstad
  • on the acquisition of a controlling stake in Eleda
  • on the €955.3 million public takeover of Caverion Corporation
  • and Cinven on their CHF 4.2 billion acquisition of Lonza Specialty Ingredients
• Bain Capital Tech Opps on its majority investment in Finova and its simultaneous acquisition of MSO
• Bain Capital Special Situations on their investment in IMS Nanofabrication
• Blackstone:
  • alongside Rivean and Enstall on the acquisition of Schletter Group
  • on the acquisition of a majority stake in VFS
  • on the $4.73 billion take private of Signature Aviation
  • on the £4.77 billion acquisition of Merlin Entertainments
• Calyx Services on the acquisition of Invicro from Konica Minolta
• Celanese Corporation on global merger control for its $1.15 billion proposed acquisition of the Santoprene™ TPV elastomers business of Exxon Mobil Corporation
• CD&R on the acquisition of Sealed Air
• Consortium of CVC Private Equity Funds, Nordic Capital and ADIA on the £5.4 billion acquisition of Hargreaves Lansdown
• DNOW on the $1.5 billion combination with MRC Global
• EQT:
  • on the £4.5 billion acquisition of Dechra Pharmaceuticals
  • on its acquisition of Dellner Couplers
  • on the CHF 10.2 billion acquisition of Nestlé Skin Health
  • on its investment in and the restructuring and recapitalization of ACPS Automotive GmbH
  • and Inflexion on its re-investment in the British Engineering Services Group
• Express on its transformative strategic partnership with WHP Global
• Hipgnosis Songs Capital on its acquisition of 29 music catalogs from SONG and Blackstone on the subsequent acquisition by Sony of several music assets from Recognition Music Group (formerly Hipgnosis)
• Knox Lane on the acquisition of Cross Country Healthcare in a $437 million all-cash transaction
• NortonLifeLock on its c. $25 billion combination with Avast
• Pinnacle Renewable Energy, the Toronto-listed entity, on its $652 million acquisition by Drax Group
• Providence Equity Partners on its investment in Wasserman
• Rocket Software, Inc. on the acquisition of the Application Modernization and Connectivity and Vertica businesses of OpenText
• Triton Partners on the acquisition of the tour operating activities of Corendon and combination with Sunweb
• Virgin Voyages on its $550 million capital raise
• Victoria’s Secret & Co. on Acquisition of Adore Me
• WHP Global on the joint acquisition of rag & bone and on the acquisition of a majority interest in G-Star RAW
• Warburg Pincus on the sale of Accelya to Vista Partners

Antitrust

• A global industrial company to address competitors’ exclusionary conduct following its entry into the European market
• A pharmaceutical company on abuse of dominance claims in a multi-jurisdictional arbitration
• Avaya Holdings Corp. on its strategic partnership with RingCentral
• Various clients on participation in standard-setting initiatives, including advice to the DCSA container liner shipping initiative
• Multiple European FMCG suppliers in cartel investigations in Europe

Prior to joining Kirkland, Athina’s experience 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
• The Coca-Cola Company in the dissolution of its Beverage Partners Worldwide joint venture with Nestlé and other transactions notifiable in the EU

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

• Associate (2014–2019)