Oxera Consulting LLP has promoted Senior Consultants, Dr Avantika Chowdhury and Nicole Robins, to the newly created role of Principal in recognition of their strong contributions to Oxera’s Competition and State Aid practices respectively. In their new roles, they will use their considerable experience and economic knowledge to advise and support key clients. They will drive and grow the business in their areas of expertise, with Avantika focusing on antitrust and Nicole on state aid.
Since joining Oxera in 2008, Avantika has contributed significantly to Oxera’s Competition team, advising clients on a wide range of competition matters across Europe, and in the context of both private litigation and investigations by competition authorities. Avantika also has particular expertise in issues involving intellectual property rights, and has been involved in some of leading cases on the IP/antitrust interface such as patent settlements in the pharmaceutical sector and standard-essential patent licensing. She also advises clients in relation to follow-on damages actions in various jurisdictions in Europe, South Africa and the USA, including cases arising from cartels, exclusionary conduct and patent infringements.
Nicole leads Oxera’s State Aid team, having joined Oxera in 2004 as an expert in modelling and finance. She advises clients on a broad range of state aid matters across a number of sectors, including transport, financial services, health, communications, energy, real estate and sports infrastructure. This includes assessments of the market economy operator principle (MEOP), the application of state aid rules for services of general economic interest (SGEI), and the compatibility of aid. She also provides advice on matters relating to compliance with state aid regulations.
Nicole has in-depth experience in this area, with regular speaking engagements and publications on state aid matters in the leading competition journals.
Dr Gunnar Niels, Partner, stated:
‘We welcome Nicole and Avantika to their new roles of Principal. Both are already recognised experts in state aid and antitrust, respectively, and will play a key role in leading relationships with our clients and providing top-quality economics advice’