Thomas Funke

Partner, Osborne Clarke, Cologne and Brussels

Dr. Thomas G. Funke is the co-head of our international competition practice. He advises on antitrust litigation, cartel investigations and merger control.

In the European Court of Justice and the German Supreme Court, Thomas secured decisions in Hydrogen Peroxide (C-352/13), Akzo v Commission (T-345/12), CDC v Commission (T-437/08) and the BGH Coffee Roaster litigation. He represents Deutsche Bahn in one of the largest follow-on actions against the members of the European trucks cartel. Thomas is the vice-chair of Germany’s Competition Litigation Forum e.V. , and a Steering Committee member of the Cambridge Forum for European Competition Litigation.

The European Commission retained Thomas to defend its E.ON/Innogy and RWE/E.ON merger clearances against sixteen third-party challenges in the General Court of the European Union. Thomas obtained German merger clearances for several multi-billion energy, technology and life sciences transactions. He recently represented Lekkerland before the European Commission and Germany’s Bundeskartellamt to obtain expedited clearances for its heavily contested acquisition by REWE.

Thomas successfully defended industry leaders in European Commission cartel investigations, including a global automotive component supplier, a leading German retail group and a digital champion from North America. Thomas also represented leniency recipients and negotiated settlements with the Bundeskartellamt.