Shearman & Sterling's Antitrust Group and the Bay Area offices hosted the second in a series of seminars on the unique antitrust challenges facing the tech industry on Friday, November 19. This seminar focused on EU and international merger control and examined the current environment for merger reviews in Europe, the US and around the world.

Brussels partners Hans Jürgen Meyer-Lindemann and Matthew Readings, US partner Dale Collins (moderator) and US counsel Lisl Dunlop discussed the cultural, case management and substantive challenges facing high-tech companies in merger reviews in the EU. The panelists also provided an overview of developments in key Asian jurisdictions and reviewed practical strategies for navigating the international merger review landscape.

"With merger control laws multiplying across the globe, getting an international deal through the regulatory process is more complex than ever," Meyer-Lindemann said. "Leading the way is the European Commission, which has not always had an easy relationship with the high-tech industry, illustrated by its actions in recent cases such as Oracle/Sun."

Antitrust litigation partner Jim Donato, organizer of the seminar series, said, "International merger control is a significant issue to high-tech companies here in the Bay Area. Seminar participants demonstrated both a deep appreciation of the complexity of the issues and a high level of interest in understanding the steps they need to take to ready themselves for these challenges."

The seminar series will continue with a January 19, 2011 seminar titled "Antitrust Risks in Transactions | Risk Allocation Approaches." Click here to register for this upcoming seminar.