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Rhiannon Pugh

Senior Associate

Portrait ofRhiannon Pugh

Rhiannon Pugh

Senior Associate

Contact
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Cannon Place
78 Cannon Street
London
EC4N 6AF
United Kingdom
Languages English, German, Italian, French

Rhiannon has over ten years’ experience in advising on all aspects of Antitrust, Competition and Trade Law in the UK, Brussels and Germany. She regularly advises on merger control and foreign direct investment control issues, in particular in M&A projects at the UK and EU level, and coordinates global transactions with local counsel around the world. She also has extensive experience of advising on complex cartel investigations and abuse of dominance cases. Rhiannon regularly conducts compliance training for clients on a range of competition law topics and advises on competition law-related questions arising in clients’ day-to-day business, in particular regarding vertical agreements. 

Rhiannon focuses on advising clients in the energy and financial services sectors. Over the past decade she has advised clients in a very broad range of sectors, including chemicals, digital, electronic products, FMCG, healthcare, hotel and leisure, pharmaceuticals, semiconductor manufacturing and telecommunications.

Prior to joining CMS, Rhiannon trained and qualified at a Magic Circle law firm and spent several years working in the competition team in London and Brussels. Having studied German for her undergraduate degree, Rhiannon was seconded to a leading German law firm and after a year accepted the once in a lifetime offer of moving permanently to Germany to continue working at the firm. As a part of the competition team in Düsseldorf, Rhiannon spent over seven years advising German and international clients on all aspects of EU and German competition law, with a particular focus on merger control and vertical restraints.

Rhiannon is dual-qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales and a Rechtsanwältin in Germany. She is fluent in German and acquired German nationality during her time working in Düsseldorf.

In addition to practising law, Rhiannon is a “sustainability champion” at CMS, helping to support and develop sustainability and ESG initiatives. She is also a keen musician and alongside playing the piano, she enjoys singing in the CMS choir.

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Relevant experience

  • BT on its agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. to form a 50:50 joint venture to create a new sports offering for the UK and Ireland.
  • A leading global manufacturer of medical devices on the UK competition law aspects of its acquisition of a key competitor.
  • Existing shareholders and a new potential shareholder on the EU merger control aspects of the entry of an additional shareholder into an EV charging joint venture.
  • Innogy on the EU merger control aspects of its transfer from RWE to E.ON, including obtaining Phase II clearance from the European Commission (subject to limited remedies).
  • Vodafone on the EU merger control aspects of its acquisition of Liberty Global’s operations in Germany.
  • A leading German manufacturer on its joint complaint to the European Commission against a competitor concerning an abuse of dominance in connection with a patent licensing agreement.
  • Defendants in European cartel cases and representing a client on intervention applications in two European General Court and Court of Justice cases relating to the disclosure of cartel leniency materials.
  • A third-party intervener on the Applied Materials / Tokyo Electron Phase II German merger control review.
  • A global consumer goods manufacturer on the Phase II German merger control aspects of its planned acquisition of a competitor’s assets.
  • HRS on the antitrust aspects of the best price (MFN) clauses in its T&Cs and contracts with its hotel partners, following the prohibition of the clause by numerous competition authorities and courts across Europe.
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Memberships & Roles

  • Member of the Law Society’s Competition Section
  • Member of the Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht
  • Member of the Düsseldorf Bar
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Publications

  • Venture into the Unknown? The Exchange of Information Within Joint Ventures under Article 101 TFEU,
    Journal of European Competition Law and Practice. 
  • Balitzki / Pugh, Mind the gap? An analysis from a German competition law perspective of the European Commission’s proposal to review non-controlling minority shareholdings under European merger control law, International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law.
  • Mäger / Pugh, European Merger Control: Is it really relevant outside Europe? An overview of the European merger control regime and its relevance to global M&A transactions, International Bar Association, 15th Annual International Mergers and Acquisitions Conference.
     
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Education

  • 2009 – LPC, BPP, London.
  • 2008 – GDL, The College of Law, Chester.
  • 2007 – German, First Class Honours with Distinction in spoken German, Durham University, Durham.
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Expertise

12/05/2022
10 key aspects of the revised EU competition law in the field of distribution...
The new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and the new accompanying Vertical Guidelines (VGL) were published on 10 May 2022. The new VBER will enter into force on 1 June 2022 and apply for the next twelve years. The new VBER/VGL introduce sev
Law-Now Distribution and Franchising

Feed

07/11/2023
CMA goes green with guidance supporting collaboration between businesses...
With ESG firmly on the corporate agenda, recent guidance from the CMA is intended to give businesses confidence to collaborate across industries and sectors to support sustainability objectives without...
Law-Now Mergers & Acquisitions
21/06/2023
Distribution in the digital age
The rules governing distribution agreements and how they operate both across the EU and within the UK have recently been updated. These new rules will take full effect from June 2023 and it is important...
Event Webinar
28/04/2023
Friday Forum Sessions
Friday Forum is an easy-to-digest, six-part webinar series during which we will be discussing how retailers, distributors, suppliers and online platforms can adapt to the new EU and UK competition rules...
Event Webinar
28/04/2023
Specialisation and R&D: how can businesses collaborate without breaching...
Current economic pressure impacting businesses and their supply chains, combined with more pressing demands for better ESG and innovation, are driving businesses to collaborate more closely. This includes...
Law-Now ESG
25/04/2023
Competition reform and the UK’s answer to Big Tech: the Digital Markets,...
On 25 April 2023, the Government published and introduced to Parliament the long-awaited Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill.  The Bill’s scope is wide and covers three broad areas: the...
Law-Now
12/04/2023
Stocktake a year on: how the UK National Security regime applies to the...
The UK Government views the energy sector as a critical part of the economy. Despite the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (“NSIA”) only having been in full force for just over a year now...
Law-Now Mergers & Acquisitions