José María Jiménez-Laiglesia, a partner in the Antitrust & Competition Practice with nearly three decades of experience, is widely recognized as one of Spain’s leading competition lawyers.

Mr. Jiménez-Laiglesia regularly represents Spanish and international companies, financial institutions, and private equity firms before Spanish and EU competition authorities as well as other regulatory bodies. He advises clients on mergers, cartel investigations, and charges of abuse of a dominant position and state aid.

Mr. Jiménez-Laiglesia, ranked Band 1 by Chambers Europe, is recognized for successful interventions in matters involving jurisdictional review of competition and regulatory decisions before Spain’s National Court (Audiencia Nacional) and Supreme Court.

Mr. Jiménez-Laiglesia’s experience includes representing:

Mergers & Acquisitions

  • Grail, a healthcare company, in its planned acquisition by Illumina for US$8 billion
  • Platinum Equity on the acquisition of Urbaser, a leading provider of environmental services, from China Tianying Inc. for an enterprise value of approximately €3.5 billion
  • Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) in the all-cash voluntary friendly tender offer by SIX Group, the Swiss financial markets infrastructure operator, for €2.8 billion
  • The Carlyle Group in merger control aspects related to its acquisition of a minority stake in Cepsa for US$4.8 billion
  • KKR in the acquisition of distressed industrial company Grupo Gallardo and its subsequent sale to Spanish holding Cristian Lay
  • Triton Partners in the merger clearance by the European Commission for the acquisition of Fertiberia
  • Genstar Capital and its portfolio company BBB Industries in the acquisition of a 100% stake in M&R Precision Parts, an automotive components manufacturer, from Abac Capital

Antitrust & Competition

  • Ferrovial before the CNMC in a competition case concerning a potential infringement in the construction market
  • Repsol in several antitrust matters both in Spain and in the EU 
  • Urbaser in a CNMC investigation on the waste management and transportation market
  • Egeda in the context of tariff setting of intellectual property rights of audiovisual producers subject to collective management
  • Logista before the CNMC in relation to an investigation involving an exchange of information in the cigarette manufacturing and distribution market in Spain
  • Mastercard in competition matters before the CNMC and regulatory issues concerning payment services in Spain 
  • Santillana (PRISA) in a CNMC investigation on the publishing industry in Spain

Bar Qualification

  • Spain (Abogado)

Education

  • Master in Laws, London College of Law, 1990
  • BA in Law, Universidad Complutense, 1989