Tibor Szanto heads the competition, EU and regulatory practice of Allen & Overy’s Budapest office. He has significant experience in competition law as a regulator and a private practitioner. He regularly advises clients on the competition law aspects of proposed transactions, including M&As, joint ventures, cooperation and distribution agreements, and represents clients on contentious antitrust matters before the competition authorities and courts.

Tibor’s wide sector experience includes media, financial services, gas and electricity, pharmaceutical, agriculture and chemical, retail, and real estate. He has particular expertise in the telecoms sector, focusing on mobile networks and spectrum regulatory issues. He also has significant experience in cartel cases.

Recent cases include advising Magyar Telekom on an  abuse of  dominance inquiry (and on a network sharing arrangement in Hungary and a joint venture in the energy sector); Intesa Sanpaolo Group subsidiary CIB Bank on its successful appeal against the Hungarian Competition Authority’s decision in a cartel case; and Hungaropharma on an appeal against an authority decision on an alleged cartel.

Before joining Allen & Overy, Tibor was a member of the Hungarian Competition Office’s competition council, where he was involved in  many high-profile antitrust cases as  well as those resulting from the enforcement of the EU Unfair Commercial Practices directive. Tibor has also worked for the European Commission, specialising in the telecoms sector.

Tibor regularly lectures on competition and telecommunications law and policy at law and business schools in Hungary. He is a member of the International Competition League (Hungarian section) and the Budapest Bar.

Allen & Overy's global antitrust and competition practice comprises over 120 specialists operating across APAC, Europe and North America. The practice advises corporate clients and financial institutions on their global antitrust transactions, policies, litigation and regulatory strategies, and regularly acts on some of the highest-profile and most complex cases in the market.