Expertise

Karoline Phillips is a Managing Associate in the London Competition team. Karoline has a decade of experience advising strategic players and financial investors on merger control, behavioural competition issues and foreign investment rules in a wide range of sectors, including life sciences, energy and renewables, chemicals and manufacturing, financial services and consumer goods. She has been recognised by Legal 500 (2017, 2022) and by Who's Who Legal as Future Leader in Competition (2021-2023).

Karoline has particular experience advising on complex merger control matters and understands the importance of engaging strategically with regulators. Prior to joining Addleshaw Goddard in February 2023, she acted for Sika AG in its CHF 5.5 billion acquisition of MBCC Group, obtaining Phase 2 clearance with remedies from the UK CMA. She also represented Monsanto Company in its USD 66 billion acquisition by Bayer, obtaining conditional merger control clearances from the European Commission and a number of other regulators outside North America. She recently completed a secondment to the UK CMA Phase 1 mergers division and applies the insights gained in advising clients on navigating the specifics of the UK's voluntary merger control system.

Karoline also advises more broadly on competition law compliance both within and outside of a deal context and has advised pharmaceutical clients on several UK antitrust investigations by dawn raid. She is experienced in delivering tailored competition law training and issue-spotting compliance audits.

Karoline's experience includes: 

• Advising Lexon and Knights Pharmacy, the wholesale and retail pharmacy businesses acquired by the Bestway Group, on the procedural and substantive aspects of the merger control review by the UK CMA.
• Represented Sika AG in its CHF 5.5. billion acquisition of MBCC Group, a supplier of construction chemicals, in obtaining Phase 2 clearance with global remedies before the UK CMA. This was the first international merger with a complex international remedy package that was reviewed by the CMA and "fast tracked" to the remedy assessment stage in Phase 2.
• Advised a financial services technology company in relation to a completed transaction reviewed ex-post by the UK CMA, focusing on managing extensive interim measures
• Represented Monsanto in obtaining Phase 2 clearance with disposals from the European Commission and other regulators globally, for its USD 66 billion acquisition by Bayer.
• Advising Vertiv Corporation in obtaining clearance from the CCPC in Ireland for its 2021 acquisition of E+I Engineering, a provider of data centre infrastructure.