Harry T. Robins

Partner

Representing Fortune 250 companies, leading private equity sponsors, and other prominent privately held clients, Harry T. Robins advises on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and joint venture transactions before the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US Department of Justice (DOJ), state Attorneys General, and international regulatory agencies. Harry heads Morgan Lewis’ transactional antitrust practice. He also has defended numerous clients in litigated antitrust cases and in government investigations.

Extended Profile

Harry frequently represents clients in transactional antitrust matters when Morgan Lewis is not retained for the corporate work on the deal; destination clients of Harry’s include Apollo Management, BHP Billiton, HSBC N.A., ICAP plc, The Intercontinental Exchange, Merck & Co. Inc., Perrigo Company plc, and Pfizer Inc. among numerous others.

With respect to litigation, Harry has represented HSBC Holdings, the British international and financial services company, in major foreign currency exchange class action litigation before the US District Court in the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Also on behalf of HSBC, he negotiated a settlement in a multidefendant antitrust case that avoided payment for damages. In another SDNY matter—this one involving two medical device companies—he helped secure a motion to dismiss a complex tying claim. Additionally, he represented Tolko Industries in connection with the oriented strand board class action litigation in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Most recently, Harry was retained to defend ICAP plc in connection with the multidefendant interest rate swap antitrust case filed in the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

Due to his knowledge and experience with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, Harry is often quoted in the media about issues involved in this landmark antitrust legislation. His analysis of the FTC’s proposed changes to Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger rules appeared in the publications Compliance Week and CFO.

Harry writes and speaks on antitrust matters, including a speaking engagement in a panel presentation on “Price Maintenance after Visa/MasterCard” during the Canadian Bar Association’s 2013 competition spring forum. He also delivered presentations at the ABA business law section on “Proposed Changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Rules.” He presented “Mergers—Nuts & Bolts, Distribution Practices & Competitor Collaborations in the United States: Spotting the Issues for Business Lawyers” at the ABA’s annual meeting in Toronto.

selected representations

Harry has had leadership roles in obtaining antitrust approvals in some of the largest, most complex transactions in the last decade, including, e.g.,:

On behalf of Aurobindo in connection with its proposed acquisition of Sandoz’s generic product portfolio (FTC approval pending)
On behalf of Blue Cross Blue Shield Louisiana Health Services & Indemnity Co. in connection with its proposed acquisition of Vantage Holdings, Inc. (Department of Justice approval pending)
On behalf of The Intercontinental Exchange in connection with its proposed acquisition of TMC Bonds (Department of Justice)
On behalf of Securus Technologies (Platinum Equity) in connection with its proposed acquisition of Inmate Calling Solutions (Department of Justice)
On behalf of Intercontinental Exchange in connection with its acquisition of Standard & Poor’s Securities and Evaluations business from McGraw Hill Financial (Department of Justice).
On behalf of UBM in connection with the sale of PR Newswire to GTCR (Department of Justice, UK CMA).
On behalf of Pfizer Inc. in connection with its proposed $160 billion acquisition of Allergan plc (Federal Trade Commission).
On behalf of Perrigo Company plc in connection with Mylan N.V.’s unsolicited offer to acquire Perrigo Company plc (Federal Trade Commission).
On behalf of Cargill, Inc. in connection with its joint venture with ConAgra to form flour miller Ardent Mills (Department of Justice). Negotiated Consent Order to avoid litigation.
On behalf of Pearson plc in connection with its joint venture of Penguin and Random House (Bertelsmann) (Department of Justice).
On behalf of Pfizer Inc. in connection with its $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth (Federal Trade Commission). Negotiated Consent Order that required no divestiture of any human health product.
On behalf of Pearson plc in connection with its acquisition of Harcourt Assessment from Reed Elsevier (Department of Justice). Negotiated Consent Order that included product divestitures of less than 1% of Harcourt's gross revenue worldwide.