Simon Peart

Simon specialises in competition, economic and sectoral regulation and overseas investment.

With extensive experience in New Zealand and overseas, Simon advises on the full range of competition and regulatory matters, including merger control, competition and regulatory enforcement and investigations, and other regulatory and public law issues.

Simon has particular expertise in the utilities sector. He supports clients in their engagement with the Commerce Commission and Electricity Authority on policy and regulatory design, providing analysis and advocacy to support better regulatory outcomes. He regularly advises a substantial cross-section of the utilities sector on regulatory compliance matters and has unparalleled experience in defending regulatory investigations and enforcement matters in the electricity, gas, telecommunications and postal services sectors.

Simon is also a member of Chapman Tripp’s foreign direct investment (FDI) practice and regularly supports offshore clients and global coordinating firms in securing consent under the Overseas Investment Act.

Simon is recognised as a Leading Lawyer by Chambers Asia Pacific.

Recent highlights

• Advising on a wide range of complex merger control and foreign direct investment clearances, including EROAD/Coretex, Cargotec/Konecranes, Bunge/Viterra, Hewlett Packard Enterprise/Juniper Networks, Luxottica/Essilor, Kirkbi/Merlin Entertainments and Boehringer Ingelheim/Sanofi.
• Advising Chorus on the design and implementation of price-quality regulation under the Telecommunications Act 2001.
• Acting for Aurora Energy and Vector, amongst other electricity lines companies in relation to Commerce Commission enforcement proceedings for contraventions of regulatory quality standards.
• Representing Alpine Energy in relation to a Commerce Commission investigation into historic overcharging, including designing and implementing remediation undertakings to resolve the Commission’s concerns.
• Supporting Powerco, Aurora Energy and Orion in the preparation and Commission assessment of their customised price-quality path determinations.
• Acting for Firstgas, Wellington International Airport and Christchurch International Airport in appeals against the Commerce Commission’s Input Methodologies determinations in 2023.
• Acting for various clients in Commerce Commission investigations into alleged abuses of market power or other anticompetitive conduct.
• Representing electricity industry participants in Electricity Authority proceedings for alleged breaches of the Electricity Industry Participation Code.

Affiliations

Member of the Legislation Design and Advisory Committee.