Dr. Thomas S. Wilson
Overview
His client service and general level of service and level of sophistication are very strong. His commercial awareness and vision is very strong. Thomas is a well-recognised lawyer with plenty of experience in competition matters. Thomas has strong knowledge of how different jurisdictions operate and can give precise advice that provides practical and easy solutions to complex concerns.” - Chambers Europe, 2024
Thomas Wilson is one of the founding partners of Kirkland’s Brussels office and heads the Brussels competition team.
Thomas advises on the full spectrum of competition law, including EU, German and international merger control, cartels, State aid and antitrust compliance as well as FDI and FSR matters. He has played a lead role in a large number of high-profile and industry-transforming mergers, including in 5 EU Phase II investigations. Thomas also regularly represents clients before the German Federal Cartel Office. He is also a part-time lecturer at King’s College London for the Post-Graduate Diploma in EU Competition Law.
Thomas counsels large corporates (e.g. Eli Lilly, Waters, AbbVie, Celanese) as well as some of the world’s leading private equity firms such as KKR, GTCR, H&F, Nordic Capital and GBL. One of Thomas’ focus areas is pharma/life sciences. According to recent client feedback, “Thomas takes a focused business/market approach, provides clear client advice and project manages flawlessly on complex, global regulatory processes”.
Thomas regularly speaks at competition law conferences, frequently publishes on practically relevant topics and has been consistently recognized for his work by legal directories. He has been recognised as a “Thought Leader” in GCR’s Who’s Who Legal 2020–2023 editions, as a “Recommended Lawyer” in 2024 Legal 500 EMEA and featured in ‘GCR 100’ (2021). According to GCR’s Who’s Who Legal 2022 edition, Thomas is commended by clients for his “inside-out knowledge of competition law” and “in-depth experience of EU merger control rules”.
Experience
Representative Matters
Since joining Kirkland, Thomas’ representative matters have included:
- Advising Hg on significant minority investment by Téthys Invest and GIC in Septeo Group.
- Advising KKR on the investment in Enilive.
- Advising KKR-backed Argenta on the acquisition of the Shawnee sterile fill-finish manufacturing site from TriRx Pharmaceuticals.
- Advising Clearlake Capital Group-backed TEAM Technologies in its sale to Arlington Capital Partners.
- Advising Altaris on the acquisition of Minaris Regenerative Medicine.
- Advising Esker on the take private by Bridgepoint, in association with General Atlantic and management shareholders.
- Advising Cloudbreak Health, a portfolio company of GTCR, on the acquisition of Voyce.
- Advising V-Wave on the acquisition by Johnson & Johnson for up to $1.7 billion.
- Advising Kellanova on the $35.9 billion acquisition by Mars.
- Advising a consortium led by CVC, Nordic Capital and ADIA on its £5.4 billion recommended cash acquisition of Hargreaves Lansdown plc.
- Advising Helmerich & Payne in its $2 billion acquisition of KCA Deutag.
- Advising KKR on the acquisition of Janney Montgomery Scott.
- Advising Eli Lilly and Company on the acquisition of Morphic Holding for $3.2 billion.
- Advising Diamond Offshore Drilling on the acquisition by Noble for $1.6 billion.
- Advising Nordic Capital on the sale of Sunrise Medical to Platinum Equity.
- Advising GTCR on the acquisition of Surmodics Private for $627 million.
- Advising Marathon Oil on the agreement to be acquired by ConocoPhillips for $22.5 billion.
- Advising Consortium led by GIP and CPP Investments on the acquisition of ALLETE.
- Advising KKR on its investment in Avantus.
- Advising Nordic Capital on a joint venture with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board to invest in Advanz Pharma.
- Advising Digital 9 Infrastructure on the sale of Verne Global.
- Advising KKR and GED Capital on the acquisition of Eugin Group.
- Advising SK Capital Partners and its portfolio company, IPACKCHEM, a provider of jerrycans and plastic containers, in its $538 million sale to Greif (NYSE: GEF).
- Advising Gamut Capital and its portfolio company, Davis-Standard, in its acquisition of the Extrusion Technology Group, a provider of extrusion equipment and services, from Nimbus.
- Advising Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) in its $1.4 billion acquisition of POINT Biopharma (NASDAQ: PNT), a radiopharmaceutical company.
- Advising Sun Capital on the acquisition of Koch Separation Solutions from Koch Industries.
- Advising Stellant on the acquisition of Power Systems Technology Product Line from Comtech.
- Advising Venator to emerge from Chapter 11 restructuring.
- Advising Brightstar Capital Partners on its acquisition of Ausenco.
- Advising Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) in its $1.925 billion acquisition of Versanis Bio, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.
- Advising BAE Systems (LSE: BA) in its $5.5 billion acquisition of Ball Corp.'s (NYSE: BALL) defense and commercial space unit Ball Aerospace.
- Advising Union Park Capital on its sale of Process Insights.
- Advising SourceCode and Cerberus on its agreement to acquire Boston Limited.
- Advising KKR in its $1.3 billion acquisition of Chase Corporation.
- Advising Nordic Capital on the sale of Bladt Industries to CS Wind.
- Advising CyrusOne to form joint venture with KEPCO.
- Advising Eli Lilly on the acquisition of DICE Therapeutics.
- Advising Metaco on its sale to Ripple.
- Advising Nordic-backed ArisGlobal on the acquisition of Amplexor Life Sciences.
- Advising Charlesbank Capital Partners on its acquisition of Maltego Technologies GmbH.
- Advising Eli Lilly on its divesture of BAQSIMI to Amphastar.
- Advising Nordic Capital on the acquisition of a majority stake in corpuls.
- Advising Wendel on exclusive negotiations relating to the acquisition of Scalian Group.
- Advising Mohari Hospitality in the acquisition of Tao Group Hospitality.
- Advising Groupe Bruxelles Lambert in the agreement to combine Webhelp and Concentrix Corporation.
- Advising Ares Management and WHP Global on Ares’ $375 million equity investment in WHP Global.
- Advising Waters Corporation on the acquisition of Wyatt Technology.
- Advising Linden Capital Partners on the acquisition of LifeStyles Healthcare.
- Advising Resonetics on its $900 million acquisition of SAES Medical Nitinol Business.
- Advising Platinum Equity on its agreement to acquire HarbisonWalker International.
- Advising Providence Equity Partners on investment in A2MAC1, a leading provider of vehicle benchmarking insights and solutions across the mobility industry.
- Advising SK Capital Partners on its agreement to acquire Apotex Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc.
- Advising CPP Investments on the acquisition of a stake in Universal Investment.
- Advising Platinum Equity on the carve-out acquisition of Imerys’ High Temperature Solution business.
- Advising Hellman & Friedman on the $10.2 billion acquisition of Zendesk by an investor group.
- Advising Oakley Capital and other principal sellers on the sale of Contabo to KKR.
- Advising KKR and Bettcher Industries on the acquisition of Frontmatec from Axcel.
- Advising KKR on its investment in Apexanalytix.
- Advising UserZoom, a portfolio company of Thoma Bravo, on the acquisition of Testapic.
- Advising GBL on the acquisition of Sanoptis.
- Advising GBL on the acquisition of Affidea.
- Advising Turn/River Capital on its $570 million acquisition of Tufin.
- Advising a potential purchaser in relation to certain divestment businesses in the $44 billion S&P Global/IHS Markit case which was conditionally cleared by the EU Commission following a Phase II review.
- Advising Brookfield on the voluntary public takeover offer for alstria office REIT-AG.
- Advising Engineered Controls, a portfolio company of Windjammer Capital Investors, on its $631 million acquisition by Dover Corporation.
- Advising Inmarsat and its controlling consortium on the $7.3 billion combination with Viasat, Inc.
- Advising Silver Lake on the $555 million funding round to power the accelerated growth of Mirakl.
- Advising Guidepost Growth Equity on its lead role in a $150 million round of funding for Atheneum.
- Advising Silversmith Capital and DistroKid on a substantial investment from Insight Partners, valuing DistroKid at $1.3 billion.
- Advising Celanese Corporation on the $1.15 billion acquisition of ExxonMobil’s Santoprene TPV elastomers business.
- Advising Bain Capital on the bidding process for a majority stake in Condor.
- Advising SK Capital on the c. $2 billion sale of Perimeter Solutions to EverArc Holdings Ltd.
- Advising SK Capital on the formation of a consortium with Heubach Group and the subsequent acquisition of Clariant's Pigments business.
- Advising Donuts, Inc. on its sale to Ethos Capital.
- Advising Cerberus and Koch on their agreement to acquire the PQ Performance Chemicals business of PQ Group Holdings Inc. for approximately $1.1 billion.
- Advising Madison Dearborn Partners and its portfolio company Performance Health on the sale of its Biofreeze brand to Reckitt Benckiser Group.
- Advising Core Equity Holdings on various transactions, including the bidding processes for ADCO Group and Canyon Bicycles.
- Advising Donuts Inc. on its acquisition of Afilias, Inc.
- Advising LyondellBasell on its definitive agreement with Sasol to form a 50/50 polyethylene joint venture through which LyondellBasell acquired 50% of select assets in Louisiana for a total consideration of $2 billion.
- Advising SK Capital on its acquisition of a stake in Venator Materials PLC from Huntsman Corporation.
- Advising Arya Sciences Acquisition Corp. II on its $1.3 billion combination with Cerevel Therapeutics.
- Advising Vitruvian Partners on its sale of Technogroup to 3i-backed Evernex.
- Advising Arya Sciences Acquisition Corp. on its combination with Immatics Biotechnologies.
- Advising AbbVie on its $63 billion acquisition of Allergan.
- Advising GlaxoSmithKline on its $12.7 billion joint venture with Pfizer to combine their consumer health businesses (German and Austrian filing only).
- Advising the DCSA container liner shipping initiative on competition compliance aspects.
- Advising the ad hoc group of bondholders of the Lebara Group on its restructuring.
- Advising Aptiv on its acquisition of gabo Systemtechnik GmbH from Bregal Unternehmerkapital.
- Advising a consortium of lenders including Blantyre on the restructuring of Bulsatcom EAD.
- Advising KKR on its acquisition of Corel Corporation, one of the world’s top software platforms.
- Advising Droga5, one of the world’s most innovative and influential creative agencies, on its acquisition by Accenture.
- Advising Searchlight Capital on the acquisition of a 26% minority stake in Latécoère, a French aeronautics company.
Prior to joining Kirkland, Thomas’ representative matters included:
- Advising Siemens on the proposed combination of Siemens’ and Alstom’s mobility businesses.
- Advising BASF on competition law aspects regarding the combination of Wintershall and DEA oil & gas businesses generating combined revenues of €4.7 billion.
- Advising a chemicals company on an EU cartel investigation and various compliance aspects, including a company audit.
- Advising Maersk Line on the global coordination, across more than 15 jurisdictions, of its acquisition of Hamburg Süd, which also involved successful Phase I remedy negotiations with the European Commission.
- Advising Alere Inc on the EU competition law aspects of its $5.8 billion acquisition by Abbott Laboratories.
- Advising CK Hutchison (owner of the “3” Group of mobile network operators) on the €20 billion combination of its Italian mobile business with Wind Italy to create the largest mobile operator in Italy.
- Advising Rexam on the global merger control aspects of its £4.3 billion public bid by US rival Ball, bringing together the world’s two largest drinks cans producers.
- Advising Amadeus before the Bundeskartellamt on the acquisition of corporate travel technology company i:FAO.
- Advising Hapag-Lloyd on the merger control aspects of its merger with the container shipping activities of Chile's Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores.
- Advising ED&F MAN on its sale of a controlling stake to Südzucker – the sugar industry transaction prompted an in-depth review by the EU Commission and the negotiation of a complex remedy package in order to achieve Phase II clearance.
- Advising Synthes, the Swiss medical device manufacturer, on merger control and antitrust aspects in Europe and Asia of its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in a deal valued at $21 billion.
- Advising One Equity Partners on antitrust aspects of its acquisition of a majority participation in Constantia Packaging.
- Advising Deutsche Bahn on the merger control aspects of its £1.6 billion public bid for Arriva, including the negotiation of complex remedies in order to secure Phase I clearance from the EU Commission.
- Advising BASF in its successful appeal before the European General Court challenging the European Commission’s cartel fining decision in relation to its investigation into the heat stabilisers sector.
- Advising the State of Nordrhein-Westfalen on the State aid and competition law aspects of the implementation of WestLB's restructuring plan and on the creation of the first 'bad bank' under German financial stability rules.
- Advising BASF on competition law aspects of its $3 billion acquisition of Swiss chemicals producer Ciba.
Clerk & Government Experience
Referendar, Hengeler Mueller, EU (competition law practice), Brussels, 2007
European Commission, DG Competition, Antitrust UnitBrussels, 2006
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, EU (German competition law / corporate law practice), Cologne, 2004–2005
Prior Experience
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Brussels
- Counsel (2008–2018)
More
Thought Leadership
Publications
“Top EU Court Finds That the EU Commission Cannot Review Below-Threshold Transactions”, Kirkland Alert, September 9, 2024
“2024 EU Antitrust and FDI Update”, Kirkland Alert, January 17, 2024
“Europe’s Highest Court Provides Clarity on Key Concepts in EU Merger Control”, Kirkland Alert, July 18, 2023
“The EU Foreign Subsidies Regime: Final Implementing Regulation", Kirkland Alert, July 2023
“EU Foreign Subsidies Regime: Draft Implementing Regulation”, Kirkland Alert, February 2023
“2023 EU Antitrust & FDI Update”, Kirkland Alert, February 2023
“EU Clears the Way for New Foreign Subsidies Regime Impacting Dealmaking in Europe", Kirkland Alert, July 2022
“2022 EU Antitrust & FDI Update”, Kirkland Alert, January 2022
“EUMR: Article 22 Position Paper”, ECLF Working Group, October 2021
“Germany Significantly Expands Its Foreign Investment Control Regime”, Kirkland Alert, May 2021
Contributor to the response of the JWP of the UK Bars and Law Societies to the BEIS Consultation on the new UK subsidy control regime, April 2021
"Small Shift in EU Merger Policy: High Impact on Nascent Competitor Deals", Kirkland Alert, April 2021
“2021 EU Antitrust Update”, Kirkland Alert, January 2021
“EU Proposes Rules for Big Tech 'Gatekeepers'”, Kirkland Alert, December 2020
“The ECJ’s ICAP Judgment Sends a Clear Message That Procedural Rights Matter”, European Competition and Regulatory Law Review CoRe, November 2020 (co-authored with A. Chandran)
“New EU Foreign Direct Investment Regulations Take Effect”, Kirkland Alert, October 2020
“A 1st Look At New EU Screening Of Foreign Direct Investment”, Law360, October 2020 (co-authored with M. Casey and M. Thompson
“Minority shareholdings: an overview of EU and national case law”, Concurrences e-Competitions Special Issue: Minority shareholdings, October 2020 (co-authored with J. Parkinson)
“Response to the European Commission’s White Paper on levelling the playing field as regards foreign subsidies”, European Competition Lawyers Forum, September 2020
“Merger remedies - Is it time to go more behavioural?”, Competition Law Insight, June 2020
“Learnings from the Commission’s Initial State Aid Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak”, European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 19 (2020), Issue 2 (co-authored with P. Riedel and S. Cranley)
“The EU Commission releases a white paper consulting on leveling the playing field as regards foreign subsidies”, Concurrences, June 2020 (co-authored with P. Riedel and K. Koskivirta)
“Court Strikes Blow to European Commission in Mobile Telecoms Merger”, Kirkland Alert, June 2020
“COVID-19 and EU State aid recapitalisation”, Kluwer Competition Law Blog, May 2020 (co-authored with P. Gnatzy)
“European COVID-19 Government and Central Bank Measures Supporting Business”, Kirkland Alert, April 2020
“Update on the EU’s State aid response to COVID-19”, Concurrences e-Competitions Special, April 2020 (co-authored with P. Riedel and S. Cranley)
“EU State aid and COVID-19”, Kluwer Competition Law Blog, March 2020 (co-authored with P. Riedel and S. Cranley)
Contributing author, chapter “EU merger control”, Handbuch des EU-Wirtschaftsrechts by Manfred Dauses
“Legal on legal privilege in the EU”, ABA Antitrust Bulletin, March 2018 (co-authored with S. Priddis)
“Legal Professional Privilege in EU merger control”, Neue Zeitschrift für Kartellrecht, June 2017
“Document requests in complex EU merger cases”, Zeitschrift für Wettbewerbsrecht, February 2017
“Getting an international ‘end-game’ deal through”, Getting The Deal Through – Merger Control 2017 (Consulting editor John Davies), (co-authored with A. v. Bonin, M. Lehner and A. Mordaunt)
“Infrastructure Financing and State Aid Post Leipzig-Halle”, European State Aid Quarterly, January 2014
“A comparative view on the new competition law in the UAE”, GAIR Mitteilungen, 2013 (co-authored with A. Ring)
“Differences in German and EU merger control law – Should a common EU rulebook for mergers follow the German or European model?”, 2011 (co-authored with F. Montag)
Seminars
Speaker at the Advanced EU Competition Law Conference: “Sustainability & Competition Policy” (November 2023)
Speaker at the Advanced EU Competition Law Conference: “Merger Control in Dynamic Markets, including Innovation Theories of Harm” (November 2022)
Moderator and panelist at the FDI Informa Connect conference: "To File or Not to File? And How Best to Prepare a Filing" (June 2022)
Panelist at the C5 FDI conference: “Managing the Interplay between CFIUS, UK and EU Member State Regimes: Critical Updates on FIRRMA, CFIUS Reviews and Mitigation Expectations” (June 2022)
Speaker at the Advanced EU Competition Law Conference: “Spotlight on the Pharma Sector” (November 2021)
Speaker at the C5 European Forum on Foreign Investment Security Reviews and CFIUS - “Deciphering the Review - What to Anticipate and How to Prepare for EU, Member State and US Screening” (May 2021)
Panellist at the Canadian Bar Association webinar on Big Tech and Competition Law (January 2021)
Lecture at London School of Economics Competition Law Society on “Hot Topics in EU Competition Law” (November 2020)
Panelist at the Epiq webinar on Trends in European Competition Law: Digital Dominance - The Battle Ahead (November 2020)
Panelist at the Kluwer webinar on EU White Paper on Foreign Subsidies (October 2020)
Moderator at the ICC webinar on competitor collaboration, COVID-19, digitisation and sustainability (May 2020)
Panel moderator on merger remedies at GCR’s Antitrust Law Forum in Miami (February 2020)
Lecture at London School of Economics on “Hot Topics in EU Competition Law” (November 2019)
Speaker at the ERA Essential EU Competition Law seminar for German judges on Article 102 TFEU (September 2019)
Speaker and panel member at the Immersive Workshop of the Association of Corporate Investigators (ACi), London (September 2019)
Speaker and panelist at the C5 European Forum on Foreign Investment Security Reviews and CFIUS, London (June 2019)
Speaker and panel member at the Immersive Workshop of the Association of Corporate Investigators (ACi), London (May 2019)
Speaker at the ERA Essential EU Competition Law seminar for Bulgarian judges on Article 102 TFEU (November 2018)
Online training course for law students at George Mason University on recent developments in German antitrust law
Speaker at “Day of the Practice for in-house counsel”, Institut des Juristes d’Entreprise, Brussels, (March 2018)
Panel moderator on information exchange & cooperation in the context of innovation at the American Chamber of Commerce annual competition conference (October 2017)
Key note speaker and panelist on fundamental rights of companies at EU Parliament workshop, (October 2017)
Speaker at the GCLC Lunch Talk on “Merger Control and Due Process: UPS/TNT and beyond”, Brussels (April 2017)
Speaker at the Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht in Brussels on an EU merger control-related topic (February 2017)
Press Coverage
Quoted, “EU foreign subsidy white paper leaves more questions than answers, lawyers say”, Global Competition Review, June 2020
Quoted, “Telecoms groups expected to revive mergers after EU court ruling”, Financial Times, June 2020
Memberships & Affiliations
Company secretary of the Supervisory Board and General Assembly of the DCSA
Part-time lecturer at King’s College London (PG Diploma in EU Competition Law)
Permanent author for the Kluwer Competition Law Blog
Reviewer at the European Competition and Regulatory Law Review
Non-Governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network
Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht e.V.
European Competition Lawyers Forum, Board Member
Tönnissteiner Kreis e.V.
Chairman of the Brussels Round
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- Brussels (A List)
- Admitted to the Hamburg Bar (Rechtsanwalt)
Languages
- German
- English
- French
Education
- University of BonnDr. jur., European Lawmagna cum laude2007
- University of BonnSecond German State Examination2007
- University of BonnFirst German State Examination2004