Athina Van Melkebeke

Since joining Kirkland, Athina’s representative matters have included the following:

• Alpine Investors and its portfolio company Alpine Software Group on the acquisition of Sendible, a leading UK social media management and data analytics provider
• Inflexion on its re-investment in the British Engineering Services Group, a specialist in engineering testing, inspection and consultancy services
• Bain Capital Private Equity and Cinven on the CHF 4.2 billion definitive agreement to acquire Lonza Specialty Ingredients
• Pinnacle Renewable Energy, the Toronto-listed entity, on its $652 million acquisition by Drax Group plc
• Blackstone and Brown Bidco Limited on the $4.73 billion recommended take private of Signature Aviation, the world’s largest fixed base operation network for business & general aviation travelers
• Antin Infrastructure Partners on its reinvestment in Eurofiber, including the sale of a minority stake to PGGM
• Bain Capital Private Equity and its consortium partners on the €2.1 billion proposed public takeover of Ahlstrom-Munksjö Oyj
• EQT Credit on its investment in and the restructuring and recapitalization of ACPS Automotive
• Triton Partners on the acquisition of the tour operating activities of Corendon and combination with Sunweb
• EQT on the acquisition of Dellner Couplers, a global niche market leader in couplers, gangways and adjacent products for passenger rail rolling stock
• The DCSA container liner shipping initiative on competition compliance aspects
• Avaya Holdings Corp. on its strategic partnership with RingCentral, Inc.
• Blackstone on the recommended £4.77 billion cash offer for Merlin Entertainments, a global leader in location-based, family entertainment
• An EQT-led consortium on the CHF 10.2 billion exclusive negotiations to acquire Nestlé Skin Health, a leading global skincare company

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)