Olivier N. Antoine

Representative M&A and Joint Venture Experience

• Represent DIRECTV in many transactions including the proposed acquisition of the DISH video distribution business from EchoStar, and Standard General’s abandoned acquisition of TEGNA, as well as Disney, Fox, and Warner Brother Discovery’s abandoned “Venu” streaming Joint Venture, and the proposed Nexstar/TEGNA transaction.
• AT&T Inc. in many transactions including its recent $5.75 billion acquisition of Lumen Technologies’ Mass Markets Fiber-to-the-home business, and its recent acquisition of wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar for $23 billion, the $43 billion spin off Warner Media to Discovery, the $7.8 billion sale of an interest in DIRECTV to TPG, the $1.175 billion sale of the Crunchyroll business to Sony, the $108.7 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc., its $67 billion acquisition of DIRECTV, its $1.19 billion acquisition of Leap Wireless, its $944 million acquisition of Centennial Communications, and its attempted $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA Inc.
• Siemens AG in many transactions including the $1.3 billion sale of its Healthcare IT business to Cerner, the sale of its microbiology business to Danaher, and its global collaboration with Varian Medical Systems, and Siemens Healthineers in its $1.1 billion acquisition of Corindus Vascular Robotics.
• A third-party foodservice divestiture acquirer in connection with U.S. Foods’s $1.8 billion acquisition of Service Group of America, Inc. and several other matters including Sysco’s proposed acquisition of U.S. Foods.
• United Technologies in connection with its $30 billion acquisition of Rockwell Collins, and its $15.5 billion acquisition of Goodrich.
• TransCanada in its $13 billion acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group.
• Alcoa in its $2.85 billion acquisition of Firth Rixson.
• Goldman Sachs & Co. in its spinoff of the REDI business.
• Flowers Foods in its $355 million acquisition of the Hostess bread assets.
• DuPont in the $4.9 billion sale of DuPont Paint and Coating business to the Carlyle Group.
• Veolia in the $1.9 billion sale of its waste assets to Highstar Capital.
• Reed Elsevier PLC in its $4.1 billion acquisition of ChoicePoint.
• Sirius Satellite Radio in its $13 billion merger with XM Satellite Radio.
• Travelport in its $1.4 billion acquisition of Worldspan.
• Smithfield Foods in its $810 million acquisition of Premium Standard Foods, and its $367 million acquisition of Farmland Foods.
• PanAmSat in its $3.2 billion sale to Intelsat.
• Adidas AG in its $3.8 billion acquisition of Reebok.
• VNU in the attempted $7 billion acquisition of IMS Health.
• Celanese before the European Commission in its $492 million acquisition of Acetex. (Phase II investigation)
• Grey Global in its $1.7 billion sale to WPP.
• CSL in its $925 million acquisition of the Aventis Behring plasma business.
• Vivendi Universal in its $8.1 billion sale of the Seagram Spirits and Wine business to Diageo and Pernod Ricard.
• Total before the European Commission in its €50 billion acquisition of Elf. (Phase II investigation).

Representative Litigation Experience

• DIRECTV LLC v. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. et al, No 1:2023cv02221 – Represent DIRECTV in antitrust litigation against Nexstar Media Group, Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcast.
• FuboTV Inc. et al v. The Walt Disney Company et al, 1:24-cv-01363-MMG (S.D.N.Y) – Represented DIRECTV in connection with the proposed “Venu” streaming joint venture by Disney, Fox and Warner Brothers Discovery. The parties eventually abandoned the joint venture following opposition from non-parties EchoStar and DIRECTV.
• State of New York et al. v. Deutsche Telekom et al, No 1:19-cv-05434 (S.D.N.Y) – Represented AT&T Inc. in connection with the New York Attorney General et al. challenge of T-Mobile USA’s proposed $56 billion acquisition of Sprint.
• E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. v. Kolon Industries, Inc., No. 3.09cv58 (E.D.VA) – Represented E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in trade secret infringement litigation against Kolon Industries, Inc., and related monopolization counterclaim (ED Va). DuPont won a $919.9 million verdict, and the antitrust counterclaim was dismissed with prejudice.
• In re Air Cargo Antitrust Litigation, MDL-1715 (E.D.N.Y.) – Represented a European airline in defending class action claims that air cargo rates were fixed.
• In re Digital Music Antitrust Litigation, No. 06 MD 1780 (S.D.N.Y) – Represented Warner Music Group in connection with DOJ and NYAG investigations regarding the pricing of digital music and in class action claims filed against music companies alleging collusion in digital music pricing.
• In re Methyl-Methacrylate Antitrust Litigation, MDL-1768 (E.D. Pa.) – Represented Lucite Inc. in class actions alleging a conspiracy to fix prices of methyl-methacrylate (MMA) and polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA).
• In re Publication Paper Antitrust Litigation (MDL No. 1631, D. Conn.) – Represented a major pulp and paper producer in a nationwide antitrust action alleging an unlawful conspiracy to fix the price of publication paper.

Recognized by Chambers USA for Antitrust – New York for more than a decade, and perennially listed in Global Competition Review’s Who’s Who Legal of Competition Lawyers in New York and other similar publications, clients turn to Olivier for antitrust counseling when it matters most for their company. Olivier focuses primarily on antitrust counseling for “bet the company” transactional matters, as well as high-stakes antitrust litigation and government investigations.

Olivier has extensive experience representing merging parties, or merger opponents, in transactions raising significant antitrust scrutiny before U.S. Antitrust agencies as well as foreign competition authorities.  Olivier has successfully obtained merger clearances in highly contested transactions, and successfully represented merger opponents in some of the most high-profile abandoned transactions and joint ventures.

Olivier often provides “one-stop-shop” counseling on international antitrust questions requiring a bespoke analysis globally. Olivier's practice also includes civil and criminal antitrust enforcement matters and antitrust audit counseling.

Olivier's work has covered a broad range of industries, including financial institutions, telecommunications, video distribution, satellite radio, recorded music and music publishing, fixed satellites, oil and gas, paper and forestry products, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, healthcare, food products and food service, bread, spirits, beer, vitamins, textiles, chemicals, fertilizers, sports goods, airlines, automotive and automotive parts, semiconductors, media buying, and advertising.