Asters advises Aspen on Ukrainian merger control aspects in acquisition of GSK's anaesthesia portfolio

Asters Law Firm provided legal advice to Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited, one of the leading global pharmaceutical companies, in obtaining merger clearance from the Ukrainian competition authority for the purchase of GlaxoSmithKline plc anaesthesia portfolio for approximately GBP 180 million plus milestones of up to GBP 100 million.

Asters' team working on the transaction included partner Igor Svechkar, counsel Tetiana Vovk, and associate Pavlo Verbolyuk.

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Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited is a global supplier and manufacturer of branded and generic pharmaceutical products as well as infant nutritionals and consumer healthcare products. Aspen has a strong global presence in both emerging and developed countries.  Aspen has 26 manufacturing facilities at 18 sites across 6 continents and has more than 10,000 employees.

GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) is a British pharmaceutical company headquartered in Brentford, London. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, GSK was the world's sixth largest pharmaceutical company as of 2015.

Asters' attorneys have profound knowledge and vast experience in the entire spectrum of antitrust issues that includes merger cases, concerted practices, abuse of dominance, unfair competition, etc. With 18 lawyers in the antitrust/competition team, our practice is the biggest in Ukraine. Asters Partners Igor Svechkar, Alexey Pustovit and Oleksandr Voznyuk are the leading practitioners in this area and represent Ukrainian and foreign clients in the most complicated and high-profile transactions and antitrust investigations. Asters lawyers closely interact and cooperate with the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and are very active in the legal and academic community – in particular, Oleksandr Voznyuk is a Co-Chair of Competition Commission of ICC Ukraine, while Igor Svechkar is the chairman of the Competition Committee of the Ukrainian Bar Association and a deputy chairman of the Public Council of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.