Mattan Meridor

Mattan Meridor is a partner and head of our competition and antitrust  department at our Tel Aviv office.

Mattan is one of the prominent attorneys in Israel in the field of competition (antitrust) and for many years has been advising on competition aspects of major transactions and mergers taking place in Israel. Mattan is extensively engaged in representing international companies operating in Israel, with regards to competition issues, mergers and class actions against international cartels.

Among other things, Mattan acts for obtaining merger approvals and establishing joint ventures opposite the Israel Competition Authority, advises corporations on monopolies, oligopolies and information transfer (for example in due diligence between competitors), and leads civil and criminal litigation proceedings before the Competition Tribunal and appeals to the Supreme Court.

Mattan’s clients include leading Israeli companies, including banks, telecommunications, pharma, internet and energy companies and more, as well as many international corporations operating in Israel and in need of comprehensive advice on competition law issues.

Mattan recently led the appeal before the Israel Competition Authority regarding the dramatic merger between Bank Mizrahi and Union Bank of Israel, which was accepted in a precedent-setting manner and paved the way for changing the banking map in Israel, and also acted on the merger between Elbit and IMI and between Cellcom and the fiber optics company IBC.

Mattan takes an active part in legislation and regulations in the field of competition – he has appeared many times before Knesset committees and has also advised clients in the application and implementation of compliance programs in the area of competition.

Mattan serves as Vice Chairman of the Media and Technology Committee of the Antitrust Division of the American Bar Association.

In 2023, Mattan was ranked ‘Leading Individual’ in the Legal 500 international ranking guide based on his professional work and his clients’ reviews.

Mattan has been commended by clients and recognized in domestic and international legal guides. He consistently leads in individual rankings and serves as a commentator on competition issues in the financial media.

• Represented Union Bank of Israel in an appeal filed against the decision of the Director General of Competition not to approve the merger between it and Bank Mizrahi Tefahot, until the precedent-setting change in the decision and the approval of the merger.
• Acted for Cellcom Israel in various areas of their activity within the purview of competition laws, including accompanying the precedential merger between Cellcom and Golan Telecom until its approval by the Israel Competition Authority, after four years of opposition.
• Advised Elbit Systems Ltd. in the merger with IMI Systems (formerly Israel Military Industries) totaling ILS 1.9 billion.
• Represented a number of international corporations, including Hitachi, Morgan Stanley, and LG in a number of cases concerning the issues of cartel operation.
• Represents the energy giant Noble Energy (Chevron) in one of the most complex and central antitrust cases in Israel, in which the Israel Competition Authority seeks to understand whether the Leviathan reservoir partners acted as a cartel.
• Represented Bank Hapoalim in the separation process from Isracard, within the framework of the new concentration law.
• Represented the Jerusalem Post Group (the publisher of the Maariv newspaper) in the approval of the merger deal between the group and the Walla news website, until its approval by the Israel Competition Authority.