	Nicholas Spearing Counsel London nicholas.spearing@davispolk.com +44 20 7418 1096 Mr. Spearing is counsel in Davis Polk’s Corporate Department, practicing in the London office. He has experience in a broad range of antitrust matters, acting for leading companies in a range of transactional and behavioral practices cases in the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority and the European Commission. He is also regularly called upon to assist, at a broader level, in delivering industry-wide solutions to consumer concerns.

Nicholas Spearing

Counsel

London

Mr. Spearing is counsel in Davis Polk’s Corporate Department, practicing in the London office. He has experience in a broad range of antitrust matters, acting for leading companies in a range of transactional and behavioral practices cases in the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority and the European Commission. He is also regularly called upon to assist, at a broader level, in delivering industry-wide solutions to consumer concerns.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
NEWS, RESOURCES & EVENTS

Work Highlights

Comcast Corporation in connection with its £22 billion ($30 billion) pre-conditional cash offer to acquire the entire share capital of Sky plc
A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S in connection with its $7.45 billion disposal of Mærsk Oil to Total S.A.
SS&C on its $5.4 billion acquisition of DST Systems
Fibria on its €8 billion merger with Suzano
Temenos on its £1.4 billion recommended cash offer for Fidessa
Natura on its $1 billion acquisition of The Body Shop from L’Oreal
Ingram Micro in its sale to HNA Group
Technip in its merger of equals with FMC Technologies
Emerson Electric in its $3.15 billion acquisition of Pentair’s valves and controls business, and sales of its network power business to Platinum Investors and generators/motors business to Nidec
Chemtura in its $2.5 billion acquisition by Lanxess
Suez in the $3.4 billion acquisition of GE’s water treatment and chemicals business

Mr Spearing advised in connection with the filings for:

NBC Universal in its strategic partnership with Euronews
Uber China in its merger into Didi Chuxing
Volkswagen Truck in its strategic investment in Navistar

Before joining Davis Polk, Mr. Spearing’s representations included:

Anchorage Capital in its acquisition of Ideal Standard
Party Gaming on its acquisition by bwin
Emirates' Alpha Flight Group in its JV with Lufthansa's LSG Sky Chefs
Live Nation's acquisition of Ticketmaster
RBS' acquisition of NatWest
Xstrata's acquisitions of Falconbridge and MiM

Recognition

Mr. Spearing has, for many years, been listed as one of London's leading antitrust/competition lawyers in various legal industry publications, including:

Chambers UK − which praises his "great judgment and holistic view"
Legal 500 − which refers to his combination of "great wisdom with a no-nonsense approach“ and that he is ‘inspired’, ‘sophisticated’ and ‘understands the nuances’
Chambers Global and Chambers UK – “He cuts to the chase and retains a realistic approach”
PLC Which Lawyer? – Mr. Spearing is praised by some peers as one of the cleverest competition lawyers in the market

Of Note

Mr. Spearing is a former chairman of the Solicitors’ European Group and the original author of the mergers section in Butterworth’s Competition Law.