Michael J. Frese

Michael J. Frese

Counsel, Antitrust/Competition

Michael J. Frese has more than 10 years of experience advising companies on all aspects of EU competition law and various areas of EU and national market regulation, including the Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act.

Bio

Mr. Frese represents companies in investigations by authorities in Europe and abroad, as well as in proceedings before the European courts. He has also worked on numerous high-profile multijurisdictional merger filings, including for clients such as Adobe Inc., CME Group, DSV Panalpina A/S and Red Hat, Inc. Mr. Frese has advised on a range of commercial practices, including most-favored nation clauses, life-cycle management, cross-licensing, patent settlements, patent-monetization, rebates and joint marketing. His practice covers a wide range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, digital services, grocery retail, aviation, financial services, and media and telecommunications.

In recognition of his work, he has been named to Who's Who Legal: Competition.

Representative behavioral matters include, among others:

  • ZeniMax in settling the European Commission’s (EC's) video games investigation
  • ABB in its appeal before the European Court of Justice against the EC power cable cartel decision
  • GE Aviation, as a member of the CFM International joint venture, in the successful resolution of a complaint made to the EC accusing CFM of abuse of dominance
  • Generics (UK) Limited in the EC’s administrative proceeding and subsequent appeals in relation to its patent settlements with Lundbeck

Representative merger control matters include, among others:

  • Adobe Inc. in the antitrust aspects of its proposed but terminated US$20 billion acquisition of Figma, Inc.
  • ASDA Group Limited in its US$510 million acquisition of 132 petrol filling stations from Co-operative Group Limited
  • Zuber and Mohsin Issa, owners of EG Group, and TDR Capital LLP in their acquisition of a majority stake in ASDA Group Limited from Walmart Inc.
  • DSV Panalpina A/S in its US$4.2 billion acquisition of the Global Integrated Logistics business of Agility Public Warehousing Company K.S.C.P.
  • CME Group Inc. in its joint venture with IHS Markit Ltd. to combine their post-trade services
  • Viagogo Entertainment Inc in its US$4.05 billion acquisition of StubHub, Inc. from eBay Inc.
  • IAC in its US$500 million acquisition of Care.com, Inc.
  • PayPal Holdings, Inc. in its US$4 billion acquisition of Honey Science Corporation
  • Red Hat, Inc. in its US$34 billion acquisition by International Business Machines Corporation
  • Amadeus IT Group, S.A. in its US$1.5 billion acquisition of TravelClick, Inc. from Thoma Bravo, LLC
  • Intel Corporation in the sale of Wind River Systems, Inc. to TPG Capital, L.P.
  • Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in its US$1 billion acquisition of a 66.7% stake in Silversea Cruises, Ltd.
  • NXP Semiconductors N.V. in its US$47 billion acquisition by Qualcomm Incorporated
  • Cisco Systems, Inc. in the antitrust aspects of the US$600 million sale of its connected devices unit to Technicolor SA

Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Frese lectured in EU competition law, EU law and administrative law at the University of Amsterdam. He regularly publishes articles in professional and academic journals.

Credentials

Education

  • LL.M., The University of Chicago Law School, 2013
  • Ph.D., University of Amsterdam, 2012
  • LL.M., University of Amsterdam, 2005

Admissions

  • Brussels

Languages

English
Dutch

Michael J. Frese

Counsel, Antitrust/Competition
michael.frese@skadden.com