When does acquiring an  emerging competitor become a competition problem? Killer acquisitions and acqui-hires can raise concerns particularly where an incumbent acquires an innovative or nascent rival, or its key talent, potentially removing a source of future competition. This session will examine these issues from both UK and EU perspectives, exploring the challenges such transactions pose for merger control and the extent to which antitrust enforcement may also address potentially anticompetitive conduct

Prof. Frédéric Jenny is an internationally renowned economist and jurist whose career bridges judicial service, global policymaking, and academia. A former Judge of the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation), he also served as Vice President and General Counsel of the French Competition Authority and Non-Executive Board Member of the UK Office of Fair Trading (2007-2014). He was appointed Adjudicator Officer of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Ireland in December 2025.

Internationally, he chaired the OECD Competition Committee for three decades (1994–2024), shaping the global development of competition law, and led the WTO Working Group on Trade and Competition Policy (1994–2004). He was also Chairman of the OECD Global Forum on Competition until December 2025.

Dr Helen Jenkins is a Partner at Oxera. Helen has more than 25 years of experience in applying economic principles to issues of strategic importance for businesses, predominantly in the context of litigation and competition investigations. She has broad sectoral experience, including energy, financial services, retailing, communications, media and pharmaceuticals.

Helen has worked with a range of clients on the economic issues that underlie the application of the relevant competition legislation in the UK, elsewhere in Europe, Australia and the Middle East. She is a respected expert, appearing before courts and competition authorities in the USA, UK, Republic of Ireland, South Africa and Hong Kong.

Dr Tobias Caspary is Global Co-Chair of Fried Frank’s Antitrust and Competition Department. He advises clients on EU and cross-border merger control and foreign direct investments (FDI), EU cartel investigations, and general compliance counselling across industry sectors. Toby represents clients before the European Commission, the Competition and Markets Authority, and the German Federal Cartel Office. He has worked on some of the some of the largest and most complex cross-border mergers worldwide.

Christina Renner is a Partner at Morgan Lewis, based in Brussels. She advises on EU and German merger control/FDI and antitrust law, with experience in cartels, behavioural matters, abuse of dominance, and EU state aid laws, including the Foreign Subsidies Regulation. Christina routinely handles multijurisdictional merger, FDI, and foreign subsidy filings, advises on complex cross-border competition compliance matters, and represents diverse international clients in antitrust investigations before the European Commission and other national competition authorities.

The session will conclude around 7:00 pm and will be followed by drinks and canapés.