NAVIGATING COMPLEX CHALLENGES MEET OUR NEW EXPERTS

Transcription

1 NAVIGATING COMPLEX CHALLENGES MEET OUR NEW EXPERTS

2 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT I am pleased to introduce to you the exceptional experts who became Brattle principals over the past year. These professionals expand our expertise in antitrust and competition, international arbitration, securities, valuation and commercial damages, tax controversy, and regulatory economics in electricity and telecommunications. In 2017, we moved our corporate headquarters to downtown Boston after more than 20 years in Cambridge s Harvard Square. This move reflected our desire for a modern environment that fosters collaboration and innovation. As the challenges our clients bring to us become increasingly complex and demanding, we pride ourselves on staying true to our core values dedication to integrity, excellence in economic consulting, outstanding client service, and an atmosphere of respect and collegiality. M. Alexis Maniatis President, The Brattle Group Brattle continues to be recognized as a leading economic consultancy and great place to work. Vault Consulting 50, Top 10 Best Consulting Firms to Work For Global Arbitration Review 100, Leading International Arbitration Expert Witness Providers Global Competition Review s Economics 21, Top Firm for Competition Economics Who s Who Economic Consulting, Who s Who Legal Competition, and Who s Who Thought Leaders (Arbitration) Forbes America s Best Management Consulting Firms AdvisoryHQ s Best Economic Consulting Firms

3 GUY BEN-ISHAI New York, NY Antitrust/Competition Product Liability Securities & Finance FLORIN DOROBANTU New York, NY International Arbitration Valuation Dr. Ben-Ishai has extensive expertise in competition, securities, and product liability matters. Prior to joining The Brattle Group, he completed three years of distinguished public service as a senior government official and the Chief Economist at the New York State s Attorney General s Office. As Chief Economist for the Office, Dr. Ben-Ishai successfully led the economics work of the agency in a number of highstakes, high-impact cases. These included a consummated merger challenge where he testified on disgorgement of ill-gotten gains; a product-hopping monopolization lawsuit in the pharmaceutical industry; a securities investigation involving climate change risk disclosure; and a consumer fraud matter related to the sales of diesel vehicles equipped with defeat devices. Earlier in his career, Dr. Ben-Ishai served as a private consultant in both testifying and consulting roles. He advised clients on a wide range of antitrust matters relating to monopolization, price-fixing conspiracies, mergers, and damages. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Milken Institute in California and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Toulouse in France. Dr. Ben-Ishai holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a B.A. in Economics from UCLA. Dr. Dorobantu specializes in valuation and structured finance issues with a focus on international arbitration. He has testified on damages in cases before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). Dr. Dorobantu has also advised clients in ICSID, London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), and ICC arbitration proceedings, as well as in litigation cases in U.S. federal courts, state courts, and tax courts. He has experience conducting complex discounted cash flow analyses, including building cash flow forecasts, estimating the impact of business and financial risks on cash flows and discount rates, and incorporating the value of real options in the valuation of long-lived assets. Dr. Dorobantu has performed valuation analyses in a variety of industries, including mining, oil and gas, financial services, large project engineering and construction, consumer goods, and business process outsourcing. Dr. Dorobantu holds a Ph.D. and B.A. in Economics from Duke University and a B.A. in Economics and Business Administration from American University in Bulgaria.

4 ELIANA GARCÉS Washington, DC Antitrust/Competition Competition & Market Manipulation Intellectual Property Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation CHRIS POLSON Toronto, Ontario Valuation Disputes Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation Securities & Finance Tax Controversy & Transfer Pricing Dr. Garcés is an economist with broad experience in antitrust enforcement and regulatory design. She was in the cabinet of Vice President Joaquín Almunia, the European Commissioner responsible for competition policy from 2010 to In that position she supervised antitrust and merger investigations in financial services, information technology, telecommunications, and energy markets. Mr. Polson advises corporations, governments, and law firms on valuation and commercial damages issues, particularly in connection with securities, tax, and mergers and acquisitions disputes. His valuation expertise covers both the standard valuation of corporations and assets as well as the complex valuation of subsidiaries and financial instruments. Prior to joining Brattle, Dr. Garcés was the Deputy Chief Economist in the European Commission s Directorate General for Internal Market and Industry where she provided analyses relevant to policy issues involving economic integration and European industrial competitiveness. She also served as a member of the Competition Chief Economist Team. Dr. Garcés has held positions in both government and the private sector, including previous economic consulting experience in the United States. From 2016 to 2017, she was a Visiting Senior Fellow at George Mason University, where she taught and researched regulatory aspects of digital innovation both in the United States and Europe. Dr. Garcés holds a Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA, an M.A. in European Economic Integration from College of Europe (Brussels), and a Licenciatura in Economics and Economic Theory from Universidad Autónoma (Madrid). Mr. Polson also has deep experience in commercial damages, and has consulted on matters related to breach of contract, bankruptcy, material omissions or misrepresentations, employee stock options, insider trading, and disputed merger terms. Some of Mr. Polson s recent mandates include a shareholder dispute regarding the value of a minority interest in a pipeline construction and maintenance business; a quantification of the damages arising from an alleged breach of a representation clause within a share purchase agreement; and the determination of a reasonable commercial interest rate and resulting fair market value for certain securities under review by the Canada Revenue Agency. Mr. Polson is qualified as an expert in the quantification of commercial damages and has also provided expert witness testimony in a number of arbitrations and mediations. Mr. Polson holds an MBA from Queens University and an Honours Bachelor of Commerce (with Distinction) from McMaster University.

5 RECENT FIRM HIGHLIGHTS Brattle Contributes to Shareholder Victory in Facebook Proposed Reclassification On September 21, 2017, Facebook s board of directors voted to abandon the pending reclassification of the company s common stock. The reclassification would have issued two shares of non-voting (Class C) stock to every share of regular (Class A) stock and high-voting (Class B) stock. A Brattle expert opined in reports and testified at deposition that academic studies found that the value of firms are lower when the disparity between their controlling shareholders voting power and equity interest (the wedge ) is larger. He concluded that by increasing Zuckerberg s wedge, the reclassification would have reduced the value of the Class A shares. AGUSTIN J. ROS Boston, MA Agustin.Ros@brattle.com Dr. Ros has filed expert reports before regulators in the Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States, and has consulted for clients in Australia, Brazil, the Cayman Islands, China, the Eastern Caribbean Islands, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and the United Kingdom. He has participated in arbitration proceedings before international regulatory authorities and before the International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Panel. Competition & Market Manipulation Electric Power Finance & Ratemaking International Arbitration Telecommunications, Internet & Media Dr. Ros has close to 25 years of experience in regulatory and antitrust economics in network industries such as aviation, energy, postal, telecommunications, and water. He has consulted or testified on topics such as competition analysis and disputes, damages and lost profits, cost of service, demand analysis and forecasting, performance-based ratemaking, and econometric modeling. Dr. Ros previously worked at the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Mexican Competition Commission. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and a B.S. in Economics from Rutgers University. He is an Adjunct Professor at Brandeis University, where he teaches global antitrust and regulatory economics at the International Business School. Brattle s Retail Energy Practice Analyzes Potential Utility Responses to Challenges and Trends Associated with the Utility of the Future (UoF) A new UoF paradigm is emerging as utilities rethink their future business models in response to the expansion of distributed energy resources, decarbonization goals, declining sales growth, and technological developments. While each of these developments has the potential to disrupt the status quo, they could also provide growth opportunities to utilities and new market entrants. Brattle s briefing series attempts to examine the UoF from an integrated perspective by examining linkages between the financial, technological, strategic, and regulatory dimensions. In addition, Brattle s Retail Energy Practice has developed and applied a systems model that uses feedback loops to assess the impact of the many interrelated factors on technology adoption and utility sales, revenues, and earnings. Brattle Client Superior Plus Cleared in Acquisition of Canwest Based on Efficiencies Brattle s client Superior Plus recently received clearance from Canada s Competition Bureau to acquire Gibson Energy s propane distribution business, Canwest, making the post-merger business the largest propane distributor in Canada. Blake Cassels & Graydon, counsel for Superior Plus, retained Brattle to perform the competitive effects analysis, the efficiencies analysis under section 96, and the order-specific trade-off analysis in connection with the proposed transaction. The Bureau concluded that the merger would likely lessen competition substantially in 22 of the 25 relevant geographic markets for the distribution of retail bulk propane, but that the efficiency gains in 10 of the 22 local markets were likely to clearly and significantly outweigh the likely anticompetitive effects. This is the third acquisition in recent years where the Competition Bureau has explicitly stated they considered efficiencies when analyzing the transaction. Brattle has been involved in two of those three transactions.

6 Brattle Consultants Contribute to Favorable Initial Decision for BP Products North America Inc. on Discrimination Claims Against Sunoco Pipeline In May 2017, an initial decision by U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Administrative Law Judge Patricia E. Hurt finding that Sunoco Pipeline L.P. (Sunoco Pipeline) discriminated against BP Products North America Inc. (BP) relied extensively on testimony and evidence submitted by a Brattle principal. Brattle was retained by BP and Venable LLP to investigate the circumstances under which Sunoco Pipeline offered Throughput and Deficiency Agreements (TDAs). A Brattle team analyzed the discriminatory conduct of Sunoco Pipeline that resulted in a significant decline since 2010 of BP s allocated volumes on the Marysville Pipeline, and calculated the damages owed to BP as a result of the discriminatory and preferential actions. Brattle Client Naftogaz Successful in Securing Set-Aside of Take-or-Pay Claims in Arbitration over Gazprom Contract Brattle s client Naftogaz, the national oil and gas company of Ukraine, was successful in securing the set-aside of take-or-pay claims in the arbitration over their gas supply contact with Russia s Gazprom. Naftogaz initiated a dispute regarding the price it was paying for gas to Gazprom and Gazprom counter-claimed in respect of the gas that Naftogaz had been unable to consume but for which it was committed to pay. The result was Naftogaz faced a claim for more than $44 billion in take-or-pay penalties. Brattle economists were instrumental in achieving a retrospective reduction in the contract price that amounted to nearly 30% in mid-2014 and having the take-or-pay claim completely dismissed, essentially on competition grounds. Brattle Economists Find that NYISO Carbon Charge Could Help Meet New York Decarbonization Goals More Cost-Effectively NYISO retained Brattle to evaluate how pricing carbon emissions in NYISO s generation commitment and dispatch could complement existing policies under New York s State Energy Plan to help meet the state s decarbonization goals more cost-effectively, with a particular focus on customer cost impacts. Our report found that adding a carbon charge into the wholesale energy market could improve the state s ability to meet its decarbonization goals cost-effectively. The study also revealed that refunding collected carbon revenues back to customers results in minimal impact on customer electricity costs compared to current policies. Brattle Expert Testifies Before U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce on 5G A Brattle principal testified before the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce s Subcommittee on Communication and Technology during a hearing on The Race to 5G and its Potential to Revolutionize American Competitiveness. In the testimony, our expert analyzed the need for additional spectrum in order to fulfill the promise of 5G, which will bring unprecedented speeds and low latency to wireless networks. He opined on how, unlike previous technological advancements, 5G combines new technologies with a new architectural model of how spectrum is deployed. The new model for a robust 5G network will require High-, Mid-, and Low-Band spectrum, known as the spectrum trifecta, which could raise or lower overall spectrum values, but should increase demand for Mid-Band spectrum, the connective tissue of 5G deployments. Brattle Analyzes Economic Impacts of Two Offshore Reinsurance Tax Proposals In 2017, Brattle economists and an academic affiliate analyzed the economic impacts of two offshore reinsurance tax proposals. The studies demonstrated that tax legislation aiming to defer the recognition of affiliated offshore reinsurance for U.S. tax purposes will adversely affect U.S. homeowners and businesses by reducing availability and increasing prices for property and casualty insurance for infrequent but high-loss events. Additionally, our analysis shows that the Border Adjustment Tax (BAT), a component of House Republican s Blueprint tax reform proposal that resembles excise taxes on cross border affiliate transactions, would severely reduce the global diversification benefit for the insurance industry, leading to potential negative outcomes for the U.S. catastrophe insurance industry. AREAS OF EXPERTISE LITIGATION Accounting Analysis of Market Manipulation Antitrust/Competition Bankruptcy & Restructuring Big Data & Document Analytics Environmental Litigation & Regulation Intellectual Property International Arbitration ENERGY & UTILITIES Competition & Market Manipulation Electric Transmission Electricity Market Modeling & Resource Planning Energy Litigation Environmental Policy, Planning & Compliance INDUSTRIES Electric Power Financial Institutions Infrastructure Natural Gas & Petroleum International Trade Labor & Employment Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation Product Liability Securities & Finance Tax Controversy & Transfer Pricing Valuation White Collar Investigations & Litigation Finance & Ratemaking Gas/Electric Coordination Market Design Natural Gas & Petroleum Nuclear Renewable & Alternative Energy Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Telecommunications, Internet & Media Transportation Water

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