Expertise – Focus – Perspective

The German news magazine FOCUS has listed ROCAN as one of the top law firms most frequently recommended for antitrust law.

Handelsblatt, one of the largest business newspapers in Germany, and Best Lawyers have recognized ROCAN as one of the best law firms for antitrust in Germany and one of the best law firms for antitrust and regulatory in North-Rhine-Westphalia.

The renown Global Competition Review has included our partner Timo Angerbauer in its worldwide “40 under 40”-list of the next generation of leading antitrust lawyers.

The aim of the cooperation between the two parties is to jointly take over the development and production of the F127, a new frigate for the German Navy.

Juve, the renown publication covering the German legal market, has nominated ROCAN for this year’s Juve awards in the category Antitrust Law Firm of the Year.

Landefeld is one of Europe's leading suppliers of components for pneumatics, hydraulics and industrial use.

Katjes Greenfood has increased its share in mymuesli from previously 10.1% to approximately 56% in the course of a capital increase and an acquisition of shares from existing investors.

meetB is one of Germany's largest full-range suppliers of medical technology and medical products with a special focus on products, consumables and services for emergency medicine.

ROCAN has once again contributed the German chapter to this year's Global Legal Group Merger Control Guide. The 2024 edition provides an overview of the most important developments of the past year and highlights some of the industries and trends that are currently in focus, such as tech, healthcare and economic aspects.

ROCAN grows team with the addition of Charlotte Förstmann, who joins us as an associate. We are very pleased to further strengthen our firm by adding Charlotte to the team.

The renown legal publication Juve has included our partner Tobias Pukropski in its list of the 50 leading foreign investment control lawyers in Germany.

Handelsblatt, one of the largest business newspapers in Germany, and Best Lawyers have named ROCAN also this year as one of Germany’s best law firms for antitrust and regulatory.

The renowned German business magazine brand eins lists ROCAN as one of the best law firms in Germany for antitrust law and ranks ROCAN in Tier 1 (4 of 4 stars).

The Canadian investor Arcadea, based in Toronto, has acquired the IT company Zedas from Germany.

One of the leading German business magazines, WirtschaftsWoche, in its annual ranking has named ROCAN again as one of the most renowned law firms for antitrust law and has listed all three ROCAN-founding partners Timo Angerbauer, Paul Drößler and Tobias Pukropski as top lawyers for antitrust.

One of the leading German business magazines, WirtschaftsWoche, has named ROCAN-founding partner Paul Drößler as a “Legal All Star” for antitrust law.

With a volume of around EUR 120 Mio., it is one of the biggest self-storage transactions in the European market recently.

Lindab, a leading ventilation company in Europe, has signed an agreement to acquire Airmaster, a leading European company in decentralised ventilation. With the acquisition, Lindab establishes a new product area within the Group.

Wentus GmbH develops and produces flexible packaging films in and for various segments, in particular food and hygiene products. Trioworld Group is active in the development and production of various plastic packaging for different sectors.

The prestigious Global Competition Review has nominated one our matters for the GCR Awards 2024: Google’s data processing commitments towards the German Federal Cartel Office have been nominated in the category “Behavioural matter of the year – Europe”.

One of the leading German business magazines, WirtschaftsWoche, has named ROCAN as one of the most renowned law firms for compliance in its annual ranking and has listed ROCAN-founding partner Timo Angerbauer as a top lawyer for compliance.

The international Global Competition Review has included ROCAN in its list of the best law firms for antitrust law in Germany. We are delighted to be included in the prestigious GCR 100 ranking.

VEDA GmbH is a provider of HR software and Payroll-as-a-Service. The company offers its customers a platform solution for digital HR management, including payroll, time and safety management, recruiting, personnel development and learning management.

In the future, the group will operate under the name Texmo Blank and will focus on the production of high-quality castings in the US, Europe and Asia with approx. 1,750 employees.

Aviat Networks, Inc., is a leading expert in wireless transport and access solutions and is listed on the NASDAQ Global Market. The acquisition of NEC Corporation’s wireless transport business via an asset purchase is meant to increase the scale of Aviat Networks, enhance its product portfolio and create a more diversified business.

ROCAN partner Tobias Pukropski will be speaking on a panel on “Foreign direct investment and the Courts” at Global Competition Review´s Foreign Investment Control conference.

The most innovative law firms are honored for special projects.

ROCAN continues to grow with the addition of Kaya Ricarda Ricken as an Associate.

Following its nomination for the Juve “new law firms” award, ROCAN is recommended by Juve for antitrust in its Handbook of Commercial Law Firms 2023/2024.

Rocan has advised Google on the German Federal Cartel Office’s investigation regarding Google’s data processing conditions, including on Google’s commitments to the Federal Cartel Office.

ROCAN has advised German industrial group thyssenkrupp and Norwegian shipping group Wilhelmsen on antitrust aspects of the bundling of their 3D printing capacities in the joint venture “Pelagus 3D” and has coordinated merger control filings worldwide.

Ovofit specializes in the production and distribution of an extensive range of processed egg products and vegan egg substitutes. Eureden is a cooperative agriculture and food company based in France with around 19,500 cooperative farmers and 8,500 employees.

Hawle Austria has acquired the German Erhard Group. The Erhard Group is a supplier of water flow control solutions for the entire water cycle and has production sites in Germany and Poland. Hawle Austria manufactures and sells quality products for water supply worldwide.

We are pleased to announce that, as of September 1,2023, Dr. Fabian Grossmann joined our practice from Hengeler Mueller, where he was an antitrust lawyer for the past five years.

Juve, the publication covering the German legal market, has nominated ROCAN for this year’s Juve awards in the category for new law firms (“Gründerzeit”). With this award, Juve looks beyond individual areas of law to assess the development of newly established law firms and, in particular, their management performance.

ROCAN has contributed the German chapter to the Global Legal Group Merger Control Guide 2023

On 1 June 2023, the Commission issued its revised Horizontal Guidelines (Horizontal Guidelines) as well as the revised Block Exemption Regulations for Research and Development (R&D BER) and Specialization Agreements (Specialization BER). The following summarizes some key changes and puts a focus on the changes most relevant in practice:

The EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation will start to apply in one week, on 12 July 2023. Together with merger control and foreign investment control, the FSR could lead to a regulatory triple control of transactions in the future.

Techno Design specializes in collection creation in the fashion industry and manages all processes in the global supply chain. Techno Design will take over the existing sourcing operations of the Gerry Weber Group and cater to all the global sourcing needs.

The renown Global Competition Review has included our partner Tobias Pukropski in its worldwide “40 under 40”-list of the next generation of leading foreign investment control lawyers.

Handelsblatt, one of the largest business newspapers in Germany, and Best Lawyers have named ROCAN as one of Germany’s best law firms for antitrust and regulatory.

One of the leading German business magazines, WirtschaftsWoche, in its annual ranking has named ROCAN again as one of the most renowned law firms for antitrust law and has listed all three ROCAN-founding partners Timo Angerbauer, Paul Drößler and Tobias Pukropski as top lawyers for antitrust.

Katjes Greenfood, the venture capital arm of the Katjes Group, recently acquired a 10.1% stake in mymuesli, the world’s first online provider of customised organic muesli.

The renowned German business magazine brand eins lists ROCAN as one of the best law firms in Germany for competition law and ranks ROCAN in Tier 1 (4 of 4 stars).

On 23 May 2023, YPOG and ROCAN will host a joint event at Startup Week Düsseldorf: Legal Pitfalls in the Life of a Startup.

Funds advised by Maxburg Capital Partners and all other shareholders have sold their participations in the open source intelligence software provider Maltego GmbH to vehicles controlled by the Boston-based Charlesbank Technology Opportunities Funds.

BME is one of the leading building materials trading companies in Europe and Germany. Gebhardt offers a comprehensive product portfolio of building materials with a focus on building construction, interior construction, roofing as well as gardening and landscaping.

VISMA has acquired the majority of shares of the H&H Data Processing and Consulting Company.

Read our “Secret Topics? Antitrust & FDI Outlook 2023” here.

We advised LSF XI Investments, LLC and its affiliates (“Lone Star”), GTT Communications’ largest secured term loan lender, in the framework of the chapter 11 restructuring of the company.

M&A transactions have so far been subject to merger control and foreign investment control in the EU. With the EU’s Regulation on Foreign Subsidies (FSR) having entered into force today (and its rules fully applying from 12 July 2023), the EU has now effectively introduced an additional merger control regime for certain M&A deals.

Pepper.com (Pepper) inter alia runs platforms like Mydealz. Together, Pepper and Global Savings Group (GSG) form a multinational technology company.

The drugspecialist Dermapharm will acquire Arkopharma, a French manufacturer of nutritional supplements and over-the-counter herbal medicines. The seller is the private equity investor Montagu.

Euromoney has named ROCAN partner Tobias Pukropski among its 2022 Rising Stars for competition and antitrust in Germany.

Zertus GmbH has acquired a 50%-stake in Well PlusTrade GmbH, a leading supplier of protein-based sports nutrition.

Read our “Post-Summer Antitrust & FDI Outlook” here. On one page, we summarise four key expectations for the coming months.

Handelsblatt, one of the largest business newspapers in Germany, counts ROCAN amongst Germany’s best law firms.

The transaction brings together content and commerce.

One of the leading German business magazines, WirtschaftsWoche, has named ROCAN as one of the most renowned law firms for antitrust law and has listed all three ROCAN-partners as top lawyers for antitrust.

WKS group is one of the leading print and media service providers in German-speaking Europe and expands its range of services as a full-service provider in the print industry via the acquisition of Häuser KG.

Düsseldorf will host its seventh Startup Week from 20-24 June 2022. The startup scene around Düsseldorf will meet at around 120 events.

The renowned German business magazine brand eins listed ROCAN as one of the best laws firms in Germany for competition law – less than nine months after ROCAN’s foundation.

The Lindab Group, a leading European company for ventilation technology, strengthens its local market position with the acquisition of Felderer AG and multiplies its Germany-wide sales.

dnata expands its European footprint by entering into the German market and will further develop its position as a leading global cargo services provider.

Quadriga Capital Funds support the growth of UNITED THERAPY.

Air Hamburg, a provider of private jets, sells its business to Vista Global Holding.

Read our "Merger Control Outlook 2022" here, in which we summarise four key points for merger control this year, based on an analysis of the complex merger control proceedings by the EU Commission and the German Bundeskartellamt in 2021.

Read our client briefing on Technical cooperations between competitors after the "emission cartel" decision here

The German competition regulator Bundeskartellamt has published guidelines and a practical guide on the new German Competition Register for Public Procurement. In our briefing, we provide answers to the key questions.

The leading German legal market publication JUVE reports on ROCAN advising on the acquisition of Mercedes-Benz Minibus by Aequita.

In this joint Webinar hosted by VBB, ROCAN and Finsbury Glover Hering, Legal and Public Affairs experts discuss the five questions dealmakers need to ask in order to best tackle the increasing impact of Foreign Direct Investment Screening in Germany and the UK.

Read our client briefing on "Antitrust and HR – An upcoming focus of European regulators".

The German antitrust regulator Bundeskartellamt published new guidelines on the setting of fines and on its leniency programme yesterday. The regulator wants to adapt more closely to the fining practice of the courts and wants to specify its leniency programme.

On 10 September 2021, the Cartel and Competition Law Amendment Act 2021 came into force in Austria. The Act supplements the turnover-related notification thresholds.

The partners of ROCAN have launched a new blog today: At www.antitrustpolitics.com, they will write on topics at the interface between antitrust law, investment control and politics.

Global Competition Review (GCR), the world's leading antitrust and competition law information provider and news service, reports on ROCAN's launch: »Three former principal associates in Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s competition team in Düsseldorf have left the firm to open an antitrust boutique in the same city.«

The renowned law magazine JUVE reported on the launch of ROCAN in its online edition today.

As of 1 September 2021, the three former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyers Dr. Timo Angerbauer, Paul Drößler and Dr. Tobias Pukropski have launched Rocan, a boutique law firm for antitrust and foreign investment control law. The firm will be based in Düsseldorf, Germany.