Riccardo Celli

Riccardo Celli is Chair of O’Melveny’s European Antitrust and Competition Practice, the Regional Head of Litigation for Europe, and managing partner of the firm’s Brussels office.

Riccardo joined O’Melveny in June 2004 when he founded the Brussels office.Riccardo has almost 30 years of experience in counseling clients on all aspects of EU competition law with particular focus on merger control, unilateral conducts, cartel investigations, IP/antitrust interface and antitrust compliance.

Riccardo has worked for many of the world’s largest corporations, and has been involved in high-profile cases covering many global industries. For example, Riccardo led the O’Melveny-Brussels team that advised AMD in its Article 102 complaint against Intel, in which the European Commission fined Intel a record €1.06 billion for its anti-competitive practices. O’Melveny’s EU team won the 2010 “Competition Team of the Year” at The Lawyer Awards for its representation of AMD, and Riccardo was a finalist for the “Partner of the Year” award for his leadership during the case.

In the area of merger control, Riccardo regularly assists clients with the legal assessment, structuring and clearance of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other significant investments. Riccardo manages and coordinates multiple filings for clients, not only in Europe but worldwide, and interacts with competition authorities in multiple countries for a single transaction, including assisting clients in preparing and negotiating possible commitments with regulators. Most recently, Riccardo successfully represented Honeywell International Inc in its US $5.1 billion acquisition of the Elster Division of Melrose Industries plc, obtaining merger control clearances in the EU, US, China and a number of other antitrust authorities across the world. He also represented Honeywell International Inc in its acquisition of the Sigma’s laboratory chemicals business, divested by Sigma as part of the EC approval of the Merck/Sigma transaction, securing the EC approval of Honeywell as the suitable buyer and obtaining merger control clearances from various national competition authorities.

Riccardo can draw from his wealth of experience by providing strategic advice and assisting clients in successfully navigating antitrust laws. In its recent listing, Chambers Europe reports that clients appreciate Riccardo for his in-depth understanding of their businesses, adding: “He provides valuable advice in terms of legal expertise and adds value to our decision-making process by providing strategic guidance.”

Riccardo is recognized as one of the world’s leading lawyers in the field of competition law in many specialized publications, including Chambers Europe, Chambers Global, Legal 500, EMEA, IFLR 1000, Global Competition Review, PLC Which Lawyer?, and International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers.

Prior to O’Melveny, Riccardo’s professional experience includes six years in the Rome office of a major Italian law firm, followed by 15 years with international law firm Norton Rose, where he was managing partner of their Brussels office for eight years.