Jeffrey S. Spigel (Jeff)

Agricultural/Food

• Defending a leading food company in DOJ and State AG antitrust investigations.
• Successfully represented Viserion Grain, LLC, in DOJ’s approval of its acquisition of 11 grain elevator facilities from Zen-Noh Grain Corporation (“ZGC”). These facilities were required to be divested to remedy the DOJ’s challenge of ZGC’s acquisition of multiple grain facilities from Bunge North America.
• Successfully represented Rockstar, a leading energy drink maker, in an FTC investigation of its $3.85 billion acquisition by PepsiCo Inc.

Energy

• Successfully represented a leading provider of natural gas processing and treatment and compression products and services in a DOJ merger investigation of a merger with a competitor.
• Successfully represented ConocoPhillips on the sale of its Canadian oil, sand, and gas assets to Cenovus in a $13.3 billion transaction.
• Successfully represented one of the leading operators and builders of offshore supply vessels in a DOJ investigation of an acquisition of a leading provider of repair services and construction of offshore and military vessels.
• Successfully represented a leading manufacturer of drill bits used in mining and oil and gas exploration in a DOJ investigation of its acquisition by a competitor.
• Successfully represented a major global energy company in a DOJ criminal antitrust investigation.
• Successfully represented Weatherford International in the sale of its pipeline business to Baker Hughes.
• Successfully represented Marubeni-Itochu Tubulars on its acquisition of the casing and tubing business of Oil States International.
• Successfully represented Transocean Ltd. in connection with its $2.7 billion acquisition of Ocean Rig UDW, Inc., in the offshore oil and gas drilling sector and successfully obtained antitrust clearances in several jurisdictions around the world.
• Successfully represented LS Power in obtaining antitrust clearances for various acquisitions of electric power-generating assets from several independent power producers around the U.S. and provided continued antitrust advice on subsequent potential transactions.
• Successfully represented one of the world’s largest integrated petroleum companies in an industry-wide investigation of gasoline prices by the FTC and Congress.
• Successfully represented Mirant Corporation in a DOJ antitrust investigation of its merger with RRI Energy. The transaction closed without DOJ action.

Entertainment

• Successfully represented Cox Enterprises in its acquisition of Axios Media.
• Successfully represented Carmike Cinemas in a DOJ investigation of its merger with AMC Theatres. Successfully negotiated a settlement with the DOJ. (United States of America v. AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.).

Financial Services

• Successfully represented a leading payment processor in a DOJ merger investigation of its acquisition by a competitor.
• Defending Equifax in antitrust litigation filed against it, TransUnion and Experian alleging violations of federal and California antitrust laws. (Adams v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc. et al., E.D. Calif. (2:23-cv-01773).
• Successfully represented TSYS, a leading global payments provider, in merger clearances of its $54 billion all-stock merger of equals with Global Payments, a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions.
• Successfully represented Bank of America in an FTC consumer protection investigation and litigation of Countrywide Financial Corporation related to Countrywide’s mortgage loan servicing practices.

Healthcare/Life Sciences

• Successfully represented a leading manufacturer of dental bone grafting products in a DOJ merger investigation of an acquisition by a competitor.
• Successfully represented Ochsner Health System regarding Lafayette General Health System’s merger into Ochsner.
• Successfully represented Ochsner Health System in the formation of a joint venture with LSU to acquire University Health Hospitals from BRFHH.
• Successfully represented Ochsner Health System in forming JOAs with CHRISTUS Louisiana, Lafayette General Health, Slidell Memorial Hospital, St. Tammany Parish Hospital, and Terrebonne General Medical Center.
• Successfully represented Ochsner Health System in its acquisition of Rush Health Systems, which added seven hospitals to extend Ochsner’s reach to east Mississippi/west Alabama region.
• Successfully represented Piedmont Healthcare, Inc. in the acquisition of four hospitals in North Georgia and Macon from HCA Healthcare.
• Successfully represented Piedmont Healthcare in an FTC merger investigation of its acquisition of University Healthcare.
• Successfully represented Houston Methodist in an FTC and Texas AG investigation of its acquisition of two CHRISTUS hospitals in the metropolitan Houston area.
• Successfully represented St. Joseph’s Health System in an FTC investigation of its formation of a JOA with Emory Healthcare.
• Successfully represented University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) in an FTC and Texas AG investigation of its formation of a JOA with Texas Health Resources.
• Successfully represented King’s Daughter Hospital in its acquisition by Scott & White Healthcare, which ultimately received clearance from the FTC under a failing firm defense.
• Successfully represented a 1,000-plus member, exclusive clinically-integrated physician network in an FTC price fixing investigation.
• Successfully represented physician clients and their messenger model network in an FTC civil price fixing and concerted refusal to deal investigation.
• Successfully represented Hospital Corporation of America in a Sections 1 and 2 Sherman Act (tying) federal antitrust action against a competing hospital system. (Palmyra Park Medical Center, Inc. v. Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, Inc., et al.).
• Successfully defended a branded pharmaceutical manufacturer in DOJ and FTC antitrust investigations of a proposed patent settlement and the use of authorized generics.

Manufacturing/Chemical/Paper

• Successfully represented Quikrete Holdings, Inc. in a DOJ merger investigation of its acquisition of Forterra Inc.
• Successfully represented WestRock, which is a leading manufacturer of containerboard and paperboard, in DOJ and other competition authorities’ investigations of strategic transactions, including WestRock’s $16 billion merger with MeadWestvaco, its $2.28 billion acquisition of MultiPackaging Solution, its $4.9 billion acquisition of KapStone, and its sale of its partitions business to Sonoco.
• Successfully represented Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. (now known as Mativ) in a DOJ investigation of its merger of equals with Neenah, Inc.
• Successfully represented H.I.G. CAPITAL and its subsidiary DCL Corporation as the divestiture buyer of Sun Chemical’s DIC Corporation Bushy Park assets in front of the Federal Trade Commission, European Commission and the Japanese Fair Trade Commission as part of a settlement regarding DIC’s acquisition by BASF’s pigment business.
• Successfully represented global chemical company Kraton Corporation in its merger with DL Chemical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of DL Holdings Co., Ltd. (formerly Daelim Industrial Co., Ltd.).
• Successfully represented Forterra Brick on the combination of its brick business with Boral Brick as part of the formation of a new joint venture.
• Successfully represented Forterra Building Products in its acquisition of U.S. Pipe.
• Successfully represented Lafarge on numerous strategic transactions.
• Defended UCAR International (now GrafTech) in a federal grand jury price fixing investigation of graphite electrodes. (United States v. UCAR International Inc.).

Retail

• Successfully represented a leading home furnishing company in an FTC merger investigation of a leading e-commerce platform.
• Successfully represented a leading branded apparel company in an FTC merger investigation of an acquisition of a competitor.
• Successfully represented HanesBrands, Inc., one of the leading providers of licensed athletic apparel and related services, in its collaboration with Fanatics, Inc.
• Successfully represented a leading manufacturer and retailer of recreational boats in an FTC investigation of the acquisition of a competitor.
• Successfully represented The Belk Stores in an FTC merger investigation of its acquisitions of the Parisian, Proffitt’s and McCrae’s department store chains from Saks Fifth Avenue.
• Successfully represented McLane Company in a Section 1 Sherman Act in an action in federal District Court in Connecticut. (Loretta N. Bansavich D/B/A/Lori’s Mobil v. McLane Company, Inc.).

Technology

• Successfully represented Equifax in numerous strategic transactions, including the acquisitions of LawLogix Edge and LawLogix Guardian software solutions, Midigator Holdings, LLC, a leading provider of post-transaction fraud mitigation solutions, Appriss Insights, a trusted and comprehensive source of risk and criminal justice data intelligence, Health e(fx), a leading and experienced provider of Affordable Care Act digital services, Teletrack, a U.S. leader in alternative credit data and Kount, a leading provider of post-transaction fraud mitigation solutions.
• Successfully represented Mailchimp, a world-class, global customer engagement and marketing platform, in a DOJ investigation of its $12 billion acquisition by Mountain View, CA-based Intuit Inc.
• Successfully represented Cox Enterprises in its acquisition of Logicworks, which provides cloud management, automation, migration, and operations services.
• Successfully represented Red Ventures, whose portfolio includes Healthline, a leading digital health company in its $675 million acquisition of Healthgrades.
• Successfully represented Sharecare, a leading digital health company, in its $3.9 billion SPAC merger with Falcon Capital.
• Successfully represented Brookfield Infrastructure Group in its $1.1 billion acquisition of 31 Data Centers in 10 Countries on 4 Continents from AT&T.
• Successfully represented ChoicePoint in an FTC merger investigation of ChoicePoint’s acquisition by Reed Elsevier.
• Successfully represented Sprint in a DOJ investigation of its $35 billion merger with Nextel.

Jeff Spigel focuses on advising clients on the antitrust issues related to successfully executing their business strategy. As a partner and co-head of our global Antitrust practice, clients routinely seek Jeff’s practical and business-friendly advice to guide them through their strategic transactions, criminal grand jury and civil DOJ, FTC, State AG and antitrust investigations and litigation. Working with our Brussels antitrust lawyers, Jeff also defends clients in multi-jurisdictional investigations that coordinate with the U.S., including the European Commission and the UK’s CMA.

Jeff represents clients in responding to a range of civil and criminal antitrust investigations in the U.S. and abroad, obtaining Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance and coordinating approvals of proposed transactions in foreign jurisdictions. He also advises clients on pursuing or defending against antitrust claims and counsels on strategic antitrust issues such as those arising from benchmarking, compliance and audits, competitor collaborations, exclusivity and foreclosure, resale price maintenance, Robinson-Patman price discrimination, refusals to deal, and tying and predatory bundling issues.

With significant experience in the healthcare sector, Jeff frequently advises healthcare clients on strategic transactions, messenger model networks, financially- and/or clinically-integrated networks, Group Purchasing Organizations and claims by commercial payors, competitors, or the government.

Jeff’s antitrust experience also includes advising clients in a broad range of industries such as building materials, chemicals, communications, consumer products, energy (oil, gas, power, and renewables), entertainment, financial, metals, paper, pharmaceutical, retail, technology, and transportation.

On behalf of his clients, Jeff appears regularly before the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, and he coordinates with foreign counsel in dealing with competition authorities in jurisdictions around the globe, including before the European Commission. In addition, he represents clients on unfair and deceptive trade practice matters before the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state attorneys general.

A regular author and speaker, Chambers USA, Legal 500 and Super Lawyers have identified Jeff as a recognized practitioner and leading antitrust lawyer. In addition, Nightingale Healthcare News named him one of the “Outstanding Healthcare Antitrust Lawyers” in the U.S.