CMS crowned ‘Competition Team of the Year’ by Legal Business Awards

CMS is delighted to have been named ‘Competition Team of the Year’ at the Legal Business Awards 2020.

The CMS team has been recognised for its role in steering Cox Automotive’s and Auto Trader’s joint venture ‘Dealer Auction’ – a business-to-business online auction trading platform for the wholesale remarketing of vehicles – through to an unexpected Phase One clearance by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The proposed JV coincided with digital mergers becoming a core focus and priority competition enforcement area for the CMA and competition agencies around the world. Perceived high market shares of the combined entity and allegations of narrow sub-markets presented further challenges.

Recognising that the CMA merger control process was a central hurdle, the CMS competition team was instructed as sole counsel to lead that process for both JV parties. CMS achieved an unexpectedly early victory, allowing integration to begin on time and saving the business risks that can come with a protracted competition delay.

The CMS team was led by Brian Sher, CMS partner and Co-Head of Competition, with assistance from counsel Kabir Garyali and associates Louisa Mottaz and James Colvin. 

Martin Forbes, President, Cox Automotive International, commented: “I was hugely impressed by the quality of thought, commitment, passion and work ethic with which CMS navigated us through this challenging CMA process. Simply put, they were outstanding. It really does feel like we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and it feels good. Although absolutely the right decision by the CMA, I still can’t quite believe we managed to get this approved at Phase One.”

The CMS Competition Group is one of the largest global competition teams with 225 full-time competition lawyers based in 35 countries, including a dedicated competition law office in Brussels. CMS are experienced at providing seamless multi-jurisdictional advice on all cross-border competition and trade matters, including mergers, cartels, abuse of dominance, market investigations, competition litigation and state aid.

Find more information about the Legal Business Awards here.