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Global Competition Review’s 2022 Antitrust Awards Recognize Analysis Group’s Work on Litigation and Merger Matters
Analysis Group is honored to have worked on two matters recognized by Global Competition Review’s (GCR’s) 2022 antitrust awards for “creative, strategic, and innovative work by teams of in-house and external lawyers and economists.”
Epic Games v. Apple Antitrust Litigation
Analysis Group was acknowledged at the GCR awards ceremony for its work on Epic Games v. Apple, which was awarded “Matter of the Year” and “Litigation of the Year – non-cartel defence.” The litigation involved allegations that anti-steering provisions contained in Apple’s App Store policies for developers stifled competition.
For the bench trial, an Analysis Group team led by Managing Principal Samuel Weglein and Vice President Kristof Zetenyi, and including Managers Big Banternghansa, Solvejg Wewel, and Jane Choi, supported academic affiliate Richard Schmalensee, who filed expert reports and testified at deposition and trial on behalf of Apple. Professor Schmalensee opined on issues of market definition, market power, and the economics of two-sided platforms like those identified by the US Supreme Court in Ohio v. American Express. He also rebutted the testimony of Epic’s experts.
Citing Professor Schmalensee’s testimony, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the US District Court for the Northern District of California found that the App Store is a two-sided transaction platform. Further citing Professor Schmalensee’s testimony at multiple points, she rejected all of Epic’s central challenges and validated Apple’s business model. Apple prevailed on all of Epic’s antitrust claims, with Judge Gonzalez Rogers ruling for Epic only on a single count of violating California law as applied to developers’ ability to communicate with consumers.
Veolia/Suez Merger Approval
Analysis Group also provided economic and financial analyses on behalf of Suez in its acquisition by the international environmental services conglomerate Veolia, which GCR recognized as the “Merger Control Matter of the Year – Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa.” In particular, an Analysis Group team led by Managing Principal Antoine Chapsal, and including Vice Presidents Emmanuel Frot and Josh White and Managers Giuseppe Buglione and Johanna Posch, worked on submissions to the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission, covering the competitive impact of the merger on landfill disposal in the Sydney region; operation and maintenance of water and wastewater treatment plants and desalination plants across Australia; and commercial and industrial collections in a number of local markets. The team also assessed the competitive impact of the merger on the Moroccan energy and water services markets.
Additionally, a separate Analysis Group team, led by Dr. Chapsal, Dr. Frot, and Manager Lucien Frys, supported Suez in the European Commission’s (EC’s) merger review. Analysis Group collected data on all affected markets in the European Union and prepared economic analyses, including a detailed bidding data analysis and market share estimation. The team also assessed the impact of the merger on innovation incentives by analyzing a very large set of patents and estimating the closeness of innovation processes between the parties. The EC approved the merger, dependent on the divestiture of certain French assets.
Meet Our People
Antoine Chapsal
Managing PrincipalDr. Chapsal is an economist who specializes in empirical and theoretical industrial organization. He has provided economic expertise in a large number of high-profile cases involving mergers, cartels, information exchanges, abuses of dominant positions, regulation, intellectual property matters, and damages quantifications. Recent examples include the Lafarge/Holcim and Fnac/Darty mergers, as well as airfreight, cathode ray tube, and elevator cartel cases. Dr. Chapsal has also assisted various firms in designing optimized pricing strategies and dealing with policy issues. His reports have been presented to the competition authorities of France, Germany, Austria, and South Africa; the European Commission; the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf; and the Court of Appeals, Conseil d’Etat, Conseil constitutionnel, and Tribunal of Commerce of Paris.
Prior to joining Analysis Group, Dr. Chapsal founded MAPP, a Paris- and Brussels-based economic consultancy, which was acquired by KPMG in 2018. Previously, he worked in a US competition economics consultancy. Dr. Chapsal regularly publishes articles on competition economics, on subjects ranging from the econometric analysis of cartels to geographic market delineation and exclusionary strategies. He is an affiliated professor at the Sciences Po Department of Economics and a member of the CESifo academic research network.
Emmanuel Frot
PrincipalDr. Frot is an economist with specialized expertise in applying quantitative analyses to competition, litigation, regulatory, and business intelligence issues. He advises firms in a wide range of industries, providing economic and econometric expertise on matters related to mergers, market concentrations, cartel investigations, and damages.
Over the years, he has performed numerous economic and econometric analyses in Phase I and Phase II mergers before the French Competition Authority and the European Commission, including Veolia Transport/Transdev, Jardiland/InVivo, Castel/Patriarche, Fnac/Nature & Découvertes, d’aucy/Triskalia, Lactalis/Nuova Castelli, Lactalis/Leerdammer, CMA CGM / Bolloré Logistics, Canal+/OCS, and Suez/Veolia. He has led case teams and performed economic analyses in several prominent horizontal and vertical cartel cases, as well as estimated damages in antitrust litigation and intellectual property matters. He has also assisted companies in modeling and implementing changes to pricing behavior.
His reports have been presented to the European Commission, the French Competition Authority, the Court of Appeals, the Conseil d’État (France’s highest administrative court), the Tribunal of Commerce of Paris, and regulators in the telecommunications, energy, transportation, and gambling sectors. Dr. Frot has published a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals and regularly speaks at international competition law and policy conferences.
Lucien Frys
ManagerDr. Frys specializes in the application of market design, microeconomic, and statistical principles to antitrust disputes, litigation, and arbitration. He has analyzed economic and statistical issues and helped draft reports in cases involving vertical and horizontal mergers, cartels, abuse of dominance, and retail price maintenance. Dr. Frys’s experience spans industries such as retail, agriculture, food processing, payment systems, waste and water management, energy, luxury goods, and technology. He has supported experts before multiple authorities and courts, including the French Competition Authority (FCA), the European Commission Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP), the Tribunal of Commerce of Paris, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Court of Arbitration, and the Düsseldorf court of appeal. Prior to joining Analysis Group, Dr. Frys assisted the French government in developing an algorithm to assign French first-year students to universities.
Joshua White
Vice PresidentMr. White is a consulting economist who specializes in applying microeconomics and sophisticated econometric modeling to complex litigation and merger-related questions, primarily in matters involving the health care, financial services, and technology industries. His work across a diverse set of engagements has encompassed simulating consumer demand and switching behavior, analyzing whether intellectual property (IP) licensing rates are FRAND-compliant, and estimating ex ante default probabilities for structured investment vehicles. He also has substantial experience developing innovative technological tools for analyzing datasets for merger and competition analyses.
Mr. White has supported both economic and scientific experts addressing competition and intellectual property (IP) issues in matters related to cutting-edge pharmaceutical products. He has supported clients in various jurisdictions and industries in follow-on cartel damages litigation, assessing overcharge, upstream and downstream pass-on, and volume effects.
Mr. White has worked in a number of international jurisdictions and has served as a testifying expert in the UK’s Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) on competition matters related to restrictive land covenants. He has also given evidence and submissions to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on behalf of clients involved in market investigations and mergers. Mr. White has supported several clients before the European Commission on cartel and merger matters and has provided support to European financial and competition regulators in coordinated conduct investigations. Mr. White has published a number of articles and regularly speaks at international competition law and policy conferences.