Meridor, Mattan
Meridor, Mattan
Head of the Competition and Antitrust Law
Specializations
Mattan is one of the most prominent lawyers in Israel in the field of Competition (formerly Antitrust) law and has for many years handled issues of competition in the major transactions and mergers in Israel. Mattan is involved in extensive activities representing international companies operating in Israel, with regard to competition issues, mergers and class actions against international cartels.
Among other issues he has handled are: providing merger approvals and establishing joint ventures with the Competition Authority; advising corporations on monopolies; corporate concentration and information transfer (in due diligence proceedings between competitors) as well as conducting civil and criminal litigation proceedings in the Competition Court and appealing to the Supreme Court.
His client list includes leading Israeli companies, banks, communications companies, pharma, Internet, energy and more, as well as many international corporations operating in Israel and in need of comprehensive advice on competition law issues.
Matan recently led the appeal to the Competition Authority regarding the dramatic merger between Mizrahi Bank and Union Bank, which was precedent-setting and paved the way for a change in the banking map in Israel, as well as guiding the mergers between Elbit and IMI, and Cellcom and the fiber company IBC.
Professional and Background and Recognition
Matan actively participates in legislation and regulations in the field of competition. In this framework he has appeared many times at Knesset committees and also advised clients in the implementation and assimilation of compliance programs in the field of competition. He serves as Vice Chairman of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Bar Association's Technology and Media Committee.
Matan regularly receives customer praise and recognition from local and international ranking guides. He consistently leads the personal ranking tables and serves as a commentator on competition issues in the economic media.
Relevant Experience
Representing and counselling of:
- Union Bank in the appeal filed against the decision of the competition commissioner not to approve the merger between it and Bank Mizrahi Tefahot; until a precedent-setting change in the decision and subsequent approval of the merger
- Cellcom Israel in a variety of activities, in light of competition law, including guiding the precedent-setting merger between Cellcom and Golan Telecom, pending its approval by the Competition Authority, after four years of opposition.
- Elbit Systems Ltd. in a merger with IMI Systems (formerly Israel Military Industries), amounting to NIS 1.9 billion.
- A number of international corporations, including Hitachi, Morgan Stanley, and LG in a number of cases involving cartel issues.
- The energy giant Noble Energy (now Chevron) in one of the most complex and central antitrust cases in Israel, in which the Competition Authority seeks to understand whether the Leviathan pool partnerships operated as a cartel.
- Bank Hapoalim in the process of separating from Isracard, within the framework of the new Centralization Law.
- The Jerusalem Post Group in approving the merger transaction between the group and the Walla news site, pending its approval by the Competition Authority.
