CRA consultants on the ground in Europe specialise in such areas as antitrust and competition economics, financial economics, and life sciences. For example, CRA's European Competition Practice specializes in providing economic advice on matters of competition policy and regulation. The team is known for rigorous and innovative economic analysis, careful attention to detail, and the ability to work effectively as part of a wider team of advisors. From Airtours to GE/Honeywell, Tetra/Sidel, Oracle/PeopleSoft, Ryanair/Aer Lingus, TomTom/Tele Atlas, Microsoft and Intel, the team has played a key role in many of the cases that have shaped European competition policy in recent years. The team has also been involved in major cases before the competition authorities of the Member States, and in South Africa.

Doubling up 
CRA has made good progress growing its two main areas of business recently: management consulting and litigation services. Under the former, its consultants offer advice on corporate and business strategy, performance improvement, portfolio management, market supply demand dynamics, pricing, technology management, capital allocation, supply chain and sourcing, and shareholder value.

CRA’s 2009 purchase of Marakon Associates' assets was a move intended to build a larger presence in the management consulting space and to complement its litigation and regulatory work. Under the terms of the deal, Marakon continues to operate as a distinct practice under CRA's umbrella, working closely with other CRA practices when necessary to meet a client's needs.

Law firms, businesses and government agencies also turn to the firm for its litigation support, expert analysis, and guidance on regulatory and corporate matters. CRA’s consultants and academic affiliates have in-depth industry knowledge and expertise in economics, accounting, finance and business. Service offerings include class certification, damages analysis, expert reports and testimony, and regulatory analysis. CRA also offers business advisory services, including strategy development, valuation of tangible and intangible assets, risk management and transaction support.

Because CRA consultants work in both management consulting and economic/litigation consulting, their time on the road for business travel can vary by the type of consulting they do and by practice. Some management consultants can spend three days per week on average working on-site at the client while travel for those working on economic/litigation matters is very low.

Minding your Is and Ps 
CRA is a prolific publisher, regularly putting out studies, surveys and reports. It also has a number of newsletters that focus on the energy industry, accounting and valuation, antitrust and competition issues, financial markets, life sciences, transfer pricing, and the oil and gas industry, among other subjects.

Note: The information in this profile focuses on CRA’s litigation and economic consulting business. For information on the firm's management consulting business, please refer to Vault's profile of CRA subsidiary Marakon.

IN THE NEWS

September 2013

CC clears AEG/Wembley Arena
CRA advised AEG—owner/operator of The O2 Arena and other live entertainment venues in the UK, Europe and across the world—through the Competition Commission's (CC) investigation of its acquisition of the lease to operate London's Wembley Arena. The deal was initially viewed by the UK Government's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as a two-to-one merger in a segment defined as "large indoor entertainment venues" in London. CRA was retained by AEG following the referral to the CC.

July 2013
Significant Milestone Reached on Internet-Based Trading Platform for Internationally-Traded Commodity Dairy Products

Since July 2008, CRA has been the independent trading manager of GlobalDairyTrade, initially listing products for Fonterra, a leading global dairy company based in New Zealand. GlobalDairyTrade is an efficient trading process that lowers transaction costs for buyers and sellers, helping them to manage price risk, gain better control of their product pricing and trading, and create value. In July 2013, cumulative sales on GlobalDairyTrade reached US$10 billion, reinforcing GlobalDairyTrade as a leading price reference indicator for the products traded in a vibrant, growing global dairy industry.

July 2013

European Commission clears Baxter acquisition of Gambro at Phase I subject to conditions
The European Commission approved Baxter's acquisition of Swedish medical technology rival Gambro, subject to the divestment of Baxter's Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy business (CRRT). However, the Commission did not find competition concerns arising from the parties' activities in relation to the market for haemodialysis (HD), despite significant overlaps in a number of European countries. After reviewing a range of evidence, including CRA analysis of a large scale bidding dataset constructed by the parties and their advisors on the basis of tender documents, the Commission concluded that Baxter and Gambro were not particularly close competitors in HD, and would continue to face "significant competition from a range of dynamic market participants".CRA advised Baxter on the antitrust analysis of the deal in a number of jurisdictions, including Europe.

Thibaud Vergé re-joins CRA as senior academic consultant
Thibaud Vergé has re-joined CRA after spending three years as the Chief Economist at the Autorité de la concurrence (French Competition Authority). He has also returned to the Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST) in Paris where his academic research focuses on vertical restraints, including resale price maintenance and most-favoured nation clauses.

April 2013

CRA tops Who’s Who list with the most competition specialists named
Thirty-five competition economists and academic affiliates were included in the 2013 edition of The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists. The award marked CRA's fourthconsecutive year at the top of the list.

January 2013

Renowned 40-person litigation consulting team joins CRA

Kevin M. Murphy, the George J. Stigler Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, Department of Economics and Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, along with other renowned academics and consultants, add breadth, depth, and scale to many of CRA’s litigation consulting capabilities, including antitrust & competition economics, financial accounting & valuation, financial markets, and labor & employment.

CRA economists assist Google with closing FTC antitrust review

CRA economists helped Google convince the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that Google’s innovation in search is the sort of competitive behavior the antitrust laws are supposed to encourage, leading to the FTC’s unanimous vote to close an antitrust investigation.