James Webber

James Webber

Partner

Email

james.webber@aoshearman.com

Phone

+44 20 7655 5691

Offices

London

V-CARD
James is Chemicals and Industrials Sector Lead and acts on merger and FDI control, joint ventures, cooperative agreements and antitrust litigation around the world, but especially in the UK and EU.

He also has a significant practice in subsidy control and EU State aid. James is consistently rated as one of Europe’s leading lawyers in this field. Who’s Who Legal 2023 recognised James as a Thought Leader in Competition – State Aid; one of only two such solicitors in the UK.

He was also voted as one of The Lawyer’s “Hot 100” in 2022, the top 100 lawyers in any field selected for excellence within and relevance to the legal profession in the UK.

Expertise

Industries

Experience

Representative matters

  • Anglo American on its acquisition of the Serpentina iron ore deposit from Vale and Vale’s acquisition of 15% shareholding in the enlarged Minas-Rio iron ore mine. its iron ore joint venture with Vale.
  • Paramount Global on its SkyShowtime OTT streaming joint venture with Comcast. Awarded ‘Competition & Regulatory Team of the Year’ at The Lawyer Awards, 2022.
  • Celanese on the global merger clearances for Nutrinova, a food ingredients joint venture with Mitsui.
  • British Gas on its judicial review against the UK Government’s subsidies to Bulb Energy.
  • Agratas Limited (a subsidiary of Tata Sons) on their plans to establish a global battery cell gigafactory in the UK with a capacity to produce 40 GW of cells annually.
  • ExxonMobil on the conditional phase II clearance from the Italian Competition Authority for the disposal of Exxon’s Italian downstream fuels business to Italiana Petroli (API).
  • Simon & Schuster on the CMA and ACCC clearances for its merger with Penguin Random House.
  • Citrix on the global merger clearance for its acquisition of Wrike.
  • Chipita on the phase 1 clearance for sale of its business to Mondelēz International.
  • Albemarle on its acquisition of Guangxi Tianyuan New Energy Materials Co., Ltd. FDI and antitrust approvals for the expansion of Albemarle’s lithium refining business in China.
  • Celanese on the sale of its 45% stake in a joint venture, Polyplastics Company, to its joint venture partner and Daicel Corporation.
  • Macquarie on the antitrust and regulatory aspects of its divestment of Società Gasdotti Italia.
  • Discovery Inc on the proposed joint venture with Polsat for creation of a OTT streaming service in Poland.
  • Viacom on the merger clearances for its merger with CBS.
  • Albemarle on the merger clearance for its MARBL Lithium joint venture in Western Australia.
  • Viacom on the merger clearance for its investment and joint control over Miramax.
  • ArcelorMittal on the merger clearance for its acquisition with Nippon Steel of Essar Steel of India.
  • Jaguar Land Rover on the European Commission approval for €129m regional aid in favour of JLR’s new production facility in Slovakia.
  • Albemarle on the US FTC, Bundeskartellamt and Korean approval for the sale of its polyolefin catalyst business to W R Grace & Co.
  • LyondellBasell on the global and EUMR clearances for its €2.5bn acquisition of A.Schulman Inc.
  • Albemarle on the global and EUMR phase 1 clearance for $3.6bn sale of Chemetall to BASF SE; in respect of global and EUMR Phase I approval for its acquisition of Rockwood.
  • Cyprus Cooperative Bank on the liquidation aid approval from the European Commission and merger control aspects of sale of certain assets to Hellenic Bank.
    Shell, OMV, Wintershall, Uniper and Engie on the antitrust aspects of the Nord Stream 2 gas transmission pipeline.
  • Subordinated creditors of Banco Espirito Santo on the leading case against the European Commission’s State aid clearance of a bank resolution.
  • Senior creditors of National Bank of Greece on State aid aspects of the restructuring of the bank.
  • A financial institution on a FX cartel litigation in the English High Court.
  • Viacom on the EUMR phase I clearance for its acquisition of Channel 5.
  • BMI Healthcare on the UK CMA Private Healthcare Market Investigation resulting in the first ever blocking minority in a CMA market investigation and thereby reducing proposed divestments against BMI from 11 at provisional findings to zero; representing BMI Healthcare in its case against the CMA, the first successful judicial review quashing the CMA’s procedural approach during a live inquiry; on CMA clearance for acquisition of Nuffield Hospitals, including novel CMA “fix it first” remedy; in respect of the CMA market study and Competition Commission market investigation into private healthcare; BMI Healthcare in respect of the CMA market study and Competition Commission market investigation into private healthcare.
  • Singapore Airlines on the sale of its stake in Virgin Atlantic to Delta Airlines.
  • Paramount Pictures on its EU distribution arrangements for cross border Pay TV and DVD sales; relating to Ofcom UK Competition Commission investigation into movies on pay TV.
  • Syniverse on the global and EUMR phase II approval of its acquisition of MACH. This was a conditional clearance with an upfront buyer requirement.
  • Dassault Systèmes on the EUMR phase I clearance for its acquisition of IBM DS Software.
  • Aditya Birla on the EUMR phase I clearance following Art 22 referral for its acquisition of Columbian Chemical Corp.
  • Lecta Group on the EUMR phase I clearance for its acquisition of Italian paper merchant Polyedra.
  • Government of Croatia on the State aid and public procurement compliance associated with privatisation of Croatian motorway network.
  • UK Government on the State aid schemes notified or negotiated with the Commission in risk capital, real estate and transport.
  • Numerous investment banks, hedge funds and distressed debt investors on the State aid approvals for Eurozone bank restructuring.
  • Major infrastructure investor on the State aid and procurement aspects of privatisation of High Speed 1 by the UK Government.
  • Lucasfilm Ltd on the UK Government support for production of Star Wars.

Pro bono

  • Pro-bono advocate in The Bavarian Lager Company v European Commission C-28/08 before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice. This case was the first and seminal exploration of the relationship between data protection and transparency rights in the context of corporate lobbying of the European Commission.
  • The European Parliament, European Data Protection Supervisor and 3 Member States intervened in support of our client. The Council and UK intervened to support the European Commission.
  • Advising multiple NGOs and charities that receive UK public funding with respect to compliance with the UK’s Subsidy Control Act 2022.

Published Work

  • Webber. J, (2019) “The Withdrawal Agreement, State aid and UK Industry: How to protect UK competitiveness”, Politeia.
  • Webber. J, (2020) “All Change? UK State aid after Brexit”, Politeia.
  • Webber. J, (2014) “Access to Evidence in Market Investigations,” Competition Law Journal, Vol. 13, Issue I at 72 (C. Brown, D. Bailey & S. Long eds., Jordan Publishing Limited, 2014).

Speaking Engagements

  • Panelist, “Divergence Between the European Commission and the Courts? A New Era of Merger Enforcement,” Global Competition Review Live Leaders Europe, June 2023
  • Panelist, “Adequateness/Challenges of the State Aid Framework.”, Hydrogen Europe General Assembly, November 2022
  • Panelist, “Article 22 EUMR: No More Safe Harbours?”, 3rd International Mergers Conference, Concurrence, May 2022
  • Moderator, “A Fireside Chat with Yanis Varoufakis”, Global Energy Summit: Accelerating Action on Energy Security and Energy Transition, May 2022
  • Chair, “Subsidy Control Bill”, UK State Aid Law Association, November 2021

Leadership Positions And Professional Affiliations

  • Co-convenor UK State aid Law Association (UKSALA)

Recognition

“James Webber is good fun to work with and very smart. You just know he has a great practice and is very reliable”
Chambers UK (Competition Law), 2025
“I would say he is one of the most practical attorneys we work with. He is very risk-astute, understands the commercial realities and is very sharp on the antitrust rules and framework”
Chambers UK (Competition Law), 2025

Awards

  • Recognised as a ‘Thought Leader in Competition – State Aid’; one of only two such solicitors in the UK, Who’s Who Legal 2023
  • ‘Global Leader’ in competition law, Who’s Who Legal, 2023
  • Ranked for 9 years in Chambers UK, 2015 - 2024
  • Shortlisted for ‘Concurrence Antitrust Writing Awards’, 2023
  • ‘Hot 100’ – one of the top 100 lawyers in any field selected for excellence within and relevance to the legal profession in the UK, The Lawyer, 2022Recognised in ‘40 Under 40’ list of leading competition lawyers worldwide, Global Competition Review, 2015

Qualifications

Admissions

SRA England & Wales, 2003

Practising Certificate (England & Wales), 2007

Law Society of Ireland, 2016

Academic

Bachelor of Laws, University of Birmingham, 1999

Legal Practice Course, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, 2000

Graduate Diploma in Law, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, 2005

Graduate Diploma in Law, EU Competition Law, University of London, Kings College, 2006

Languages

English
Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.