Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Morgan Stanley on competition law aspects in regard to their acquisition of a minority stake in iSwap. The inter-dealer platform for the trading of interest rate derivatives was launched in 2010 by ICAP plc as an electronic trading platform for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives. It was one of the first electronic inter-dealer trading platforms for euro interest rate swap.

The complex acquisition structure was notifiable to the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) as it led to Morgan Stanley potentially acquiring a competitively significant influence over iSwap. The FCO can assert jurisdiction over relatively minority shareholdings of less than 25% if such shareholdings confer “competitively significant influence” over the target company.

Therefore, by way of precaution, Norton Rose Fulbright filed the merger notification on behalf of Morgan Stanley to the German Federal Cartel Office.

The Antitrust and Competition team was led by Brussels partner Michael Jürgen Werner.

Assistance was provided by Raluca Marian (Senior Associate, Competition, Brussels) and Philipp Heuser (Associate, Competition, Brussels)

ICAP was represented by Freshfields.

The German Federal Cartel Office cleared the transaction.