Francesco Rosati

With experience spanning over 20 years and more than 150 cases, Francesco has advised on many of the leading competition matters in Europe and beyond. His expertise covers global mergers, coordinated conduct, abuse of dominance, vertical issues, regulation and litigation. He regularly acts as expert witness in high-profile court proceedings in the UK, France and Italy, amongst other countries. He has given oral evidence at a large number of public hearings before the European Commission, the General Court of the EU and national competition authorities in France and Italy. He has also advised on a range of competition cases in many other jurisdictions in Europe and across the world.

Francesco holds an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Rome. Before joining RBB he held an academic position in Rome and undertook postdoctoral research at École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He has published widely on the economics of merger control, Article 101 and Article 102 TFEU, and speaks regularly at conferences and private seminars. A native Italian speaker, he is fluent in English and French.

In recent years Francesco has worked for the acquirer or both merging parties in a number of EC phase II and significant phase I mergers before the EC and national authorities (e.g. TF1/M6, Outotec/ Metso, Assa Abloy/ agta record, Tronox/ Cristal, Nordic Capital/ Intrum Justitia, Imerys/ Kerneos, Plastic Omnium/ Faurecia Exterior, Auchan/ Système U, Huntsman/ Rockwood).

In the area of cartels and coordinated conduct, Francesco has advised defendants on over 30 matters before the EC and national authorities, and related appeals, as well as for both defendants and claimants in follow-on damages litigation (selected cases include trucks, power cables, Euribor, ball bearings, CDS, laundry detergents and bananas at EC level; and Diritti TV Serie A, radiofarmaci, location de voitures, produits laitiers, Plavix and tobacco at national level). In addition, he has advised on abuse of dominance issues such as foreclosure, discrimination and excessive pricing (e.g., TF1, SFR on-net, Qualcomm); vertical agreements (e.g. VBER reform, Luxottica, Heineken, Royal Canin and a range of FMCGs); competition issues related to standard-essential patents / FRAND royalties; and public affairs/regulatory matters (e.g. for La Chaine Info and Moody’s).