Drew & Napier’s Competition Law Practice Group was established in 1999, six years before the enactment of the Competition Act in 2005. Our experience has grown in tandem with the development of both national and sectoral competition laws in Singapore. Today, we are one of the largest in Singapore.

We were appointed by the sectoral regulator to draft the original telecommunications and media competition frameworks in 2000 and 2003 respectively. Subsequently, we have worked on every noteworthy competition law-related matter in these sectors. That and the experience we have gained since, now underpins our expertise in the area of Competition Law.

In 2006, we were appointed by the sectoral regulator to advise and draft the competition framework for the newly liberalised postal industry. In the same year, we were also appointed by the recently established Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) to undertake their first ever public research into the effects on competition in Singapore arising from price recommendations by trade associations.

Since the enactment of the Competition Act, we have been advising our clients on a variety of competition issues, including the preparation of individualised competition law compliance programs and “dawn raid guidelines”. We have also made several filings on behalf of our clients with the CCS in relation to certain commercial agreements and business practices, as well as obtained the first ever merger approval issued by the CCS under the Competition Act.

We provide pragmatic advice with an aim to minimising change for our clients which over the years, have included companies from the cement, gas, information technology, energy, chemicals, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, tobacco, telecommunications, engineering, transportation and aviation industries. We have also been advising sectoral regulators on industry specific competition policy, and continue to do so, since the inception of our practice.

• Conducted a study commissioned by CCS on the effects of price recommendations by trade and professional associations on competition in Singapore.
• Advised a multi-national gas company on anti-competitive provisions in an existing agreement.
• Advised a Singapore listed IT solutions company on its proposed distribution agreement under the Competition Act.
• Advised a multi-national pharmaceuticals company on competition and anti-boycott laws in Singapore.
• Conducted a competition law due diligence for an intended purchaser in the auction sale of a waste treatment company.
• Advised an international biotechnological company on its proposed distribution agreement under the Competition Act.
• Advised a multi-national facility engineering company on competition law aspects of its restructuring.
• Acted for an international payment network administrator in its notifications for guidance and decision before CCS.
• Advised a multi-national chemicals company on its distribution and licensing arrangements under the Competition Act.
• Advised a multi-national elevator company on the permissibility of a business referral system under the Competition Act.
• Advised a global transportation company in its submissions to CCS during the public consultation of the draft Competition Act guidelines.
• Advised an international aviation equipment manufacturer on the anti-trust aspects of its joint venture in Singapore.
• Advised a global telecommunications carrier on sectorial competition provisions relating to an acquisition of shares in a Singapore telecommunications operator.
• Advised a major Singapore energy player on sectorial competition issues under the applicable competition framework legislations for the gas and electricity markets.
• Advised a global telecommunications company on price fixing provisions for the re-sale of international telecommunication services.
• Advised a Singapore listed company on issues relating to exclusive dealing, mandatory bundling and predatory pricing under the Media Market Conduct Code.

• Filed and successfully obtained approval for the first ever merger notification under the Competition Act, for Intel and ST Microelectronics with respect to a US$3.6 billion world-wide merger of their flash memory business units.
• Advised on Singapore merger filing requirements in respect of a EUR 5.3 billion worldwide acquisition of a business line of a leading F&B MNC.
• Secured unconditional merger control approval from the telecommunications regulator in respect of the takeover of Pacific Internet, a regional ISP-services giant, by Connect Holdings.
• Obtained competition law merger control approval from the telecommunications regulator in respect of the takeover of AsiaNetcom by C2C.
• Obtained competition law merger control approval from the telecommunications regulator in respect of the takeover of Reliance Telecom by FLAG.
• Obtained competition law merger control approval from the telecommunications regulator in respect of the takeover of SBC by AT&T.
• Acted for the telecommunications regulator in conducting a competition merger review involving the consolidation of StarHub and Singapore Cable Vision (SCV) under the Telecom Competition Code.
• Advised a leading international gas company on the competition law aspects of its proposed acquisitions in Singapore.

• Acted for a Singapore listed company in conducting a comprehensive audit of its business practices, existing agreements, and business arrangements to facilitate compliance with the Competition Act
• Acted for a Singapore government-linked company in the structuring and implementation of a competition law compliance programme.
• Advised a Singapore trade association on competition law compliance.
• Advised an international payment network administrator in the roll-out of its Singapore competition law compliance programme.
• Advised an MNC in the cement and concrete industry on competition compliance with the Competition Act.
• Advised a multi-national tobacco company on competition law dawn raid guidelines.
• Advised global carriers on, and reviewing of their, telecommunication equipment and service agreements to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Telecom Competition Code.
• Conducted seminars and training programs to educate large MNCs on how to ensure their operational practices are competition compliant and how to ensure their internal decision making processes are rigorous enough to withstand scrutiny by the competition regulator.

• Representing a prominent group of companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange in respect of an investigation by CCS.  The investigation concerned in allegations of abuse of dominance under section 47 of the Competition Act.
• Representing a multi-national company in a cartel case before CCS.  This case involved allegations of bid-rigging and price fixing in multiple jurisdictions and required coordination with a worldwide legal team of advisors.
• Representing an American company with a Singapore subsidiary in an investigation by the United States Department of Justice’s anti-trust division into an allegation of “gun-jumping” in relation to merger issues.
• Representing an industry player in an investigation by the media regulator into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour.

• Advising the telecommunications regulator in respect of numerous disputes and complaints under the Telecommunications Competition Code.
• Advised the telecommunications regulator on enforcement action for contravention of the anti-competitive provisions in the Telecom Competition Code (including abuse of dominance and anti-competitive arrangements).
• Acted for telecommunications regulator in the dispute between SingTel and Singapore Cable Vision over facility access issues.

• Lead Singapore counsel in advising on the liberalisation of the Singapore postal industry, including drafting of the proposed Postal Competition Code.
• Lead Singapore counsel for drafting of the Telecom Competition Code 2005, consolidation framework and other Code guidelines.
• Drafting of the framework for reviewing the competitive effects of merger and acquisitions in the telecommunications industry.
• Drafted Singapore’s first interconnection, market access and infrastructure sharing framework to regulate competition in the telecommunications industry.
• Drafting of the Media Market Conduct Code 2003 to introduce competition regulations to the media and print industry.