Biography: Competition

John Boyce studied at King's College London and at Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne). He joined Slaughter and May in 1985, became a partner in 1994 and has been based in our Brussels office since 1996.

Since the adoption of the Merger Regulation in 1989 he has regularly been involved in the notification of deals to the European Commission for a broad range of clients. Phase II clearances include acting for: Bertelsmann on the disposal of its music publishing interests (to Vivendi/Universal) and the Sony/BMG case; Telelogic on its acquisition by IBM; BOC on its proposed takeover by Air Liquide; Cargill on its acquisition of Degussa Food Ingredients; and Royal Mail on its international mail joint venture with TPG and Singapore Post. He has also advised on many cases where the parties have been able to secure phase I clearances by offering commitments (such as Akzo Nobel/ICI, Intel/McAfee, Linde/BOC, Procter & Gamble/Gillette and Reckitt Benckiser/SSL), as well as several cases where the parties have successfully used the Article 4(4) and 4(5) pre-notification procedures.

He acted for British Airways on the Commission's investigation into its transatlantic joint venture with American Airlines and Iberia. He has also acted in many UK merger and behavioural inquiries before the Competition Commission (as well as the OFT). Industry inquiries and cartel investigations he has advised on have covered a wide range of industries, from chemicals and consumer goods to financial services and the IT sector.

His practice also involves contentious work, including national court proceedings as well as pending cartel investigations by the European Commission and OFT. His experience before the General Court in Luxembourg includes successful appeals in merger, state aid and cartel cases and in parallel trade matters.

John is a contributing author to Bellamy & Child (European Community Law of Competition, 6th edition, 2008). He is ranked as a leading individual in the Competition/European Law section of Chambers Europe.

John is fluent in French.