CRA supported leading oilfield service provider SLB in securing global clearance for its $7.8 billion acquisition of ChampionX.
The transaction was reviewed by competition authorities across multiple jurisdictions, including Angola, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and involved Phase 2 investigations in both Norway and Colombia.
Regulators focused their competitive assessment on several horizontal overlaps and vertical relationships across a range of products and services, including production and reservoir chemicals, artificial lift systems, drill bits, cutters, rotary steerable systems, bearings as well as drilling, cementing, stimulation and downhole monitoring services. The CRA team supported SLB with comprehensive economic analyses across all relevant product markets, including a detailed assessment of the closeness of competition between the parties’ production chemical offerings and an analysis of potential vertical concerns related to ChampionX’s upstream supply of components for downhole monitoring and drilling equipment.
CRA’s team was led by Raphaël De Coninck, Simon Chisholm and Christoph von Muellern and included Jennifer Fish, Oliver Wichert, Gaber Burnik, Dominik Fischer, Mariia Bondar, Tara Mampilly, Aonghus Ó Cochlain, Dominik Welter, Rahim Lila, Alina Sagimuldina, Michele Angino, Yahnis Adje, Ed Spiers, William Reeve and Inkeri Lipasti.
