Mr Andrew Peterson Partner Russell McVeagh - Lawyer Biography - International Law Office

International Law Office

Lawyer Biography

Mr Andrew Peterson

Practice Area:

Competition

Specialisations:

Aviation, Corporate Advisory, Dairy Industry, Forestry, Land Transport, Litigation

Background:

Andrew specialises in Competition and Regulatory Law including clearances and authorisations of mergers and acquisitions, behavioural arrangements and conduct and appeals and prosecutions. He heads the Competition practice in Auckland.

Andrew is a highly experienced competition law practitioner having previously worked for Clifford Chance in London and Davis Polk in New York, as well as being head of the Competition practice at another New Zealand law firm. Andrew joined Russell McVeagh in 2004. He is listed in the Global Competition Review "The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists". He is a member of the Steering Group of the International Antitrust Committee of the American Bar Association.

Transaction Experience

  • Acting for Lion Nathan in relation to their proposed acquisition of Independent Liquor.
  • Acting for Pfizer in relation to the sale of their Consumer Healthcare business to Johnson & Johnson.
  • Acting for Hancock Natural Resource Group in respect of the acquisition of forestry assets from Carter Holt Harvey.
  • Acting for Qantas in relation to the Tasman Networks Agreement with Air New Zealand.
  • Advising Genesis Energy in relation to competition issues and specifically investigations by the Commerce Commission.
  • Acting for Fortune Brands in respect of their acquisition of brands and assets from Allied Domecq.
  • Acting for Fonterra in relation to the competition approvals in New Zealand for the proposed acquisition of National Foods.
  • Acting for Fonterra in relation to supply and pricing issues and various other competition issues, both domestically and internationally.
  • Acting for Visy Industries in respect to an investigation into alleged cartel activity.
  • Advising Woolworths/Progressive Enterprises on competition issues.
  • Acting for Qantas in relation to its initial strategic alliance with Air New Zealand.
  • Acting for Qantas in relation to a prosecution over advertising of additional taxes, charges and levies.
  • Acting for a bank in relation to a Commerce Commission investigation into credit card interchange fees.
  • Acting for NAB in relation to Custom Fleet's acquisition of Hertz Fleetlease.
  • Acting for Vodafone in relation to the acquisition of Spectrum in the Government's 2 GHz and 900 MHz spectrum auctions.
  • Advising Southern Cross in relation to the acquisition of Aetna Health (NZ) Limited and subsequent appeals to the High Court and Court of Appeal.

Qualifications:

LLB University of Otago
LLM University of Chicago

Admitted to practise in New Zealand in 1987