Jonas Koponen

Jonas advises multinational companies on complex transactions and contentious competition investigations, as well as related dispute resolution. He is a highly regarded international competition lawyer and a recognized leader of the Brussels antitrust bar. Clients value Jonas’ combination of strategic intelligence, leading-edge advice, curiosity, flexibility and deep commercial understanding. He represents clients in a range of industries, with significant experience in the financial services, life sciences, healthcare, telecommunications, software and information technology sectors. 

Jonas strategically advises his clients on complex M&A, investments and licensing transactions, including with respect to merger reviews by the European Commission and other enforcement agencies. He also counsels companies on internal and external investigations of business conduct and related litigation to address allegations of abuse of dominance, anticompetitive agreements and practices, and cartel behavior, including applications for immunity and leniency.

Jonas is a long-standing nongovernmental adviser to the International Competition Network (ICN) and currently advises the European Commission. He lectures on competition law at the Brussels School of Competition and has published extensively on international antitrust law.

Jonas’ representative matters include:

Transactions

• Advising Trelleborg AB, a Sweden-based Nasdaq-listed world leader in engineered polymer solutions, on its 2.1 billion euro sale of Trelleborg Wheels Systems to Japan-based Yokohama Rubber Corporation
• Advising GrandVision NV, a Dutch global leader in optical retail (part of Euronext-listed EssilorLuxottica), on its acquisition of Smarteyes AB
• Advising ViaCyte, a biotechnology company focused on delivering novel stem cell-derived cell replacement therapies as a functional cure for Type 1 diabetes, on its $320 million sale to Vertex Pharmaceuticals
• Advising Amryt Pharma, an Ireland-based Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company, on its $1.48 billion sale to Chiesi Farmaceutici
• Advising CinCor Pharma, a US-based Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company, on its $1.8 billion sale to AstraZeneca
• Advising VectivBio Holding AG, a Swiss Nasdaq-listed developer of therapies for digestive disorders, on its $1.15 billion sale to Ironwood
• Advising RayzeBio, a US-based Nasdaq-listed radiopharmaceutical therapeutics company, on its $4.1 billion sale to Bristol Myers Squibb
• Advising a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company in relation to its 46 billion pound recommended offer for a specialty biopharmaceutical company, which was the largest outbound M&A deal by a Japanese company, and securing the first European Commission waiver of a pipeline divestment commitment*
• Advising an American broadcast media company in relation to its $14.6 billion acquisition by an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate*
• Advising an American life sciences and healthcare company on several acquisitions totaling more than $63 billion*
• Advising a power cable and cable accessories supplier on its 836 million euro acquisition of a high-voltage cables and accessories business*
• Advising a global engineering group on its $1.35 billion acquisition of a company active in agriculture, industrial and specialty tires*
• Advising two private equity firms in relation to their $4 billion sale of a global manufacturer of dialysis devices to an American multinational healthcare company*
• Advising an American multinational technology corporation on several transactions, including its 1.4 billion euro public tender offer for an enterprise software provider, a proposed digital rights management joint venture, and its acquisition of an internet search and search advertising business*
• Advising a European operator of trading, clearing and settlement platforms on its proposed 19 billion euro merger with a European company in the cash listing and trading and derivatives trading sectors*
• Advising a Nordic-Baltic banking group on its proposed $6.19 billion merger with a Nordic financial services group, which was the first financial services deal reviewed by the European Commission in Phase II*
• Advising a Swedish multinational telecommunications company on its proposed merger with a Norwegian multinational telecommunications company, which was the first merger of European telecoms incumbents reviewed by the European Commission in Phase II*

Investigations

• Advising a global automotive parts company in actions for alleged damages claims related to alleged participation in antitrust infringements
• Advising an automotive parts company as an immunity applicant in the European Commission’s investigations concerning alternators and starters, thermal products, and spark plugs, forming part of what has been called the “largest cartel investigation in history”*
• Advising a global software company on the European Commission’s investigation into alleged abuses of dominance by Google related to internet search and search advertising*
• Advising an investment bank on the European Commission’s power cables investigation and subsequent appeal to the European Courts in relation to alleged parent company liability*
• Advising a global investment bank on its successful defense against the European Commission’s antitrust case concerning credit default swaps*
• Advising clients on the European Commission’s investigations into hydrogen peroxide, sodium chlorate, aluminum fluoride, feed phosphates, foreign exchange, and oil and ethanol benchmarks*

*Matters handled before joining Cooley