Diarmuid is a partner in our Antitrust & Competition practice based in our London office. Diarmuid specialises in all aspects of EU and UK competition and state aid law, including:

(i) advising on investigations by the UK competition authorities and the European Commission into cartels, collusion and abuse of dominance;

(ii) advising on competition issues arising in relation to mergers, joint ventures and strategic alliances;

(iii) advising on the competition aspects of various types of commercial agreement such as distribution agreements, technology transfer agreements and research and development and specialisation agreements;

(iv) advising on the compatibility of various forms of central/regional/local government assistance/support with the EU state aid rules and, where necessary, advising on applications to the European Commission for state aid clearance; and

(v) advising on competition-based disputes and litigation, including judicial review of regulatory decisions.

Diarmuid also specialises in competition compliance advice, including advising on compliance programmes and dawn raid programmes, devising and undertaking competition compliance audits and devising and undertaking mock dawn raids.

Diarmuid is a member of the UK Association for European Law and was one of the joint UK rapporteurs at the Biennial Congress of the Fédération Internationale de Droit Européen in November 2010, reporting on “The Judicial Application of European Competition Law”. Diarmuid is also a member of the Competition Advisory Panel of the Confederation of British Industry.

The Legal 500 UK 2011 describes Diarmuid as providing "sound and informed advice on complex matters". Chambers and Partners' Chambers UK 2009 described Diarmuid as "practical and pro-active – when it comes to it, he can simply outgun other lawyers".

Publications:

• D Ryan, B Hartnett and N Dimopoulos: Market data supply agreements, The European Antitrust Review 2012 (a GCR special report)
• D Ryan, B Hartnett and N Dimopoulos Assessing information exchanged between competitors in light of the new horizontal guidelines, Competition & Antitrust Review 2011, Euromoney Yearbook
• Diarmuid Ryan and Christopher Brown, The Judicial Application of European Competition Law, XXIV FIDE Congress Topic 2 Report
• D Ryan, T Pick and W Sparks, Abuse of dominance – when is an ‘excessive’ price ‘unfair’? Recent developments at EU and member state level, Competition & Antitrust Review 2009, Euromoney Yearbook
• Weighing up the competition, Legal Week, 13 December 2007
• How national agencies approach defence mergers; Global Competition Review 2003.
• Abuse of a dominant position in EC competition law: recent developments – The European Antitrust Review 1999 (Global Competition Review special report)
• Data Protection – the new regime; The Inhouse Lawyer 1999, 69(Apr) 38-41

Representative Experience

• Advising Addison Lee on the OFT’s on-going review of its acquisition of Lewis Day’s passenger car business.
• Advising CitySprint (UK) Limited on the OFT’s 25 January 2012 unconditional clearance of its acquisition of Lewis Day’s courier business.
• Advising GB Group plc on the OFT’s 22 December 2011 unconditional clearance of its acquisition of Capescan Parent Ltd.
• Advising SSP Limited on the OFT's Motor insurers data exchange investigation.  On 2 December 2011 the OFT formally accepted commitments offered by SSP and the other firms under investigation and its investigation without any finding of infringement.
• Advising Atlas Copco Limited in obtaining unconditional clearance from the OFT on 7 July 2011 in respect of its acquisition of the medical gas dvision of Penlon Limited, which involved the first use by the OFT of certain aspects of its new guidance on exceptions to the duty to refer.
• Advising Eaglemoss Holdings (UK) Limited (part of the Aurenis group) on the OFT’s 17 December 2010 unconditional clearance of its acquisition of GE Fabbri Limited.
• Advising a global polyurethane foam manufacturer on the European Commission Article 101 investigation in the polyurethane foam sector, launched in July 2010.
• Advising BSS Group on the competition law aspects of its proposed takeover by Travis Perkins.  The transaction was notified to the OFT on 16 July 2010 and on 26 October 2010 the OFT announced its decision not to refer the transaction to the Competition Commission subject to the sale of branches in 20 local areas.
• Advising Care UK PLC in securing unconditional clearance from the European Commission on 7 April 2010 for its acquisition by Bridgepoint Capital Group Limited.
• Advising Survitec Group on the merger control aspects of its acquisition by Warburg Pincus.  This required obtaining merger control clearances in Germany, Ireland, Norway and the Ukraine – all clearances had been obtained unconditionally by 9 February 2010.
• Advising Aldi Stores Limited on the Competition Commission's Groceries Market investigation (2006-2010) and subsequent implementation of remedies imposed, monitored by the OFT.
• Advising Lucite International on the merger control aspects of its $1.6 billion acquisition by Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd, involving filing in Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Germany, South Korea and Taiwan as well as a Phase II merger review in China. This transaction completed on 28 May 2009 following acceptance by MOFCOM (Chinese regulator) of an innovative remedies package.
• Advising before the OFT (2008) and Competition Commission (2008-2009) INEOS Chlor Limited on the anticipated sale of its packaged chlorine business and assets to BOC Limited.
• Advising INEOS Chlor on its successful defence of an investigation by the European Commission during 2007 – 2008 into alleged "gun jumping", including representing INEOS on-site during the course of a Commission "dawn raid".
• Advising Live Nation on the Competition Commission’s merger inquiry into the Hamsard/Acamdey merger (Competition Commission clearance decision dated January 2007 and final undertakings accepted in February 2007).