Henryde la Barre d'Erquelinnes

Associate

Brussels + 32.2.645.15.22

Henry de la Barre's practice focuses on antitrust and competition law matters, both at the European Union (EU) and national levels. He advises major national and international companies in their proceedings with the European Commission (EC) and the National Competition Authorities in Belgium and other EU Member States. Henry's competition law experience includes merger control, anticompetitive agreements, abuse of dominance, state aid and FSR (Foreign Subsidies Regulation). He is regularly involved in merger filings before regulators across the world.

Henry assists clients in various industries. He has developed a thorough knowledge of the energy sector and several heavy industry segments. Henry has assisted clients in obtaining antitrust clearances in several complex global transactions where he acted as managing associate. He successfully represented Bombardier in the €6 billion sale of its transportation business to Alstom S.A. Other notable matters include the representation of Korean Air in its acquisition of Asiana Airlines, bringing together the two largest airlines in South Korea, and the representation of Valmet Oyj in its €4.5 billion statutory merger with Neles Corporation.

Between 2023 and 2024, Henry was seconded for six months to the in-house competition team of a global electric utility company. Henry assisted the company's in-house lawyers in ensuring compliance with antitrust and merger control laws in various EU jurisdictions.

In recent years, Henry also gained experience with the European Union's Foreign Subsidies Regulation. He coauthored a leading article on the early phase of the FSR application by the EU Commission and assisted several clients in implementing new internal reporting processes in order to become FSR compliant.

Experience

  • Korean Air obtains EU antitrust approval of acquisition of Asiana AirlinesJones Day advised Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd in securing EU merger control clearance following the European Commission's in-depth investigation of its landmark acquisition of Asiana Airlines, Inc., bringing together the two largest airlines in South Korea.
  • Tom&Co sold to VerlinvestJones Day assisted the shareholders of Tom&Co, a pet retail chain based in Brussels, market leader in Belgium/Luxembourg, in connection with the sale of a majority stake to Verlinvest SA, an investment company backed by the Belgian family shareholders of the controlling group of AB-InBev.
  • Valmet completes statutory merger with NelesJones Day served as global merger control and foreign direct investment counsel to Valmet Oyj (excluding Finland) in its statutory merger with Neles Corporation.
  • Luminus acquires Essent BelgiumJones Day advised Luminus SA (a subsidiary of EDF SA) on the antitrust and merger control aspects of its acquisition of Essent Belgium NV.
  • Bombardier sells transportation business to Alstom for €6.2 billionJones Day served as antitrust and French corporate counsel in the €6.2 billion sale of Bombardier Inc.'s transportation business to Alstom S.A.
  • Suez sells Suez Nordic to Prezero InternationalJones Day advised Suez SA, a French utilities company, in the sale of Suez Nordic AB to Prezero International GmbH, a subsidiary of the Schwarz Group.
  • NVIDIA acquires Mellanox Technologies for approximately $7 billionJones Day advised NVIDIA Corporation in its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies, Ltd., an Israel-based leading supplier of end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet interconnect solutions and services for servers and storage.
  • OMNOVA acquired by Synthomer plc for $824 millionJones Day advised OMNOVA Solutions Inc. in its $824 million acquisition by Synthomer plc, a United Kingdom-based specialty chemical company.
  • Arsenal Capital Partners acquires HistoGeneX and Caprion BiosciencesJones Day advised Arsenal Capital Partners on major investments in HistoGeneX and Caprion Biosciences and the subsequent combination of the two businesses.
  • Arsenal Capital Partners acquires Seal for Life Industries from Berry Global Group Inc. for $328 millionJones Day advised Arsenal Capital Partners on the $328 million acquisition of Seal for Life Industries from Berry Global Group Inc.
  • Procter & Gamble sells its Fluocaril and Parogencyl oral care brands to UnileverJones Day advised The Procter & Gamble Company in the sale of its Fluocaril and Parogencyl oral care brands to Unilever.
  • Transportation company seeks advice in merger of Siemens and AlstomJones Day assisted a transportation company in relation to the merger of Siemens AG's Mobility Division with Alstom SA.
  • Materion acquires Heraeus' target materials businessJones Day advised Materion Corporation, a global supplier of highly engineered advanced enabling materials, in its $30 million acquisition of the principal portion of the high-performance target materials business of the Heraeus Group.