Stephanie Panayi

Partner

Sydney

Stephanie is a seasoned competition and consumer lawyer with experience in private practice, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) and in-house at a major Australian bank.

Stephanie has experience in all aspects of competition and consumer law, including extensive expertise in mergers and merger remedies, cartel investigations and litigation; other Part IV competition advice, regulated access matters and the Australian Consumer Law.

She has local and international experience, having previously worked at top tier firms in private practice, the public service at the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) and in-house at a major Australian bank as the lead Competition Lawyer for the Consumer Division.

Stephanie has advised clients across the banking and finance, telecommunications, retail, transport, media and regulated industries.

Background

Stephanie has a Master’s Degree in European Competition Law and a PG Diploma in European Competition Law with Distinction from King’s College in London. She also has a Bachelor of Arts / Law (Hons) from the University of Technology, Sydney.

She was admitted in September 2003 to the Federal Court of Australia and June 1999 as Solicitor to the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Experience & expertise

Selected matters

Seven West Media on a range of competition matters including securing merger clearance for Bauer’s acquisition of Pacific Magazines as well as Seven’s acquisition of Community News Group.
Knauf in securing merger clearance for its USD$7 billion acquisition of USG Corporation.
Woolworths Ltd on a range of high profile matters including High Court and Federal Court proceedings on the common law concept of Legal Professional Privilege, liquor licensing litigation in Federal Court, a range of competition and consumer law enforcement matters, the Woolworths/Caltex alliance and Woolworths’ shopper docket scheme, responding to section 155 notices in competition and consumer matters and obtaining merger clearance for various supermarket and liquor store acquisitions.
A major Australian bank on the ACCC’s residential mortgage price inquiry.
APLNG in successfully obtaining “no coverage” decision for the APLNG pipeline.
Applicants for immunity and leniency in ACCC cartel enforcement matters.
Various clients on a range of issues including economic regulation; ring fencing obligations; joint venture structures and price determinations.
Reserve Bank of Australia in connection with various legal challenges to the RBA's statutory reforms to the credit card and EFTPOS systems in Australia, which involved complex analysis of the economics and regulation of payments systems and multi-sided network economics.

During her time at the CCCS in Singapore, Stephanie worked on the following high profile matters:

Delivering the first International Cartel Infringement Decision in the ball and roller bearings cartel matter in Singapore.
Delivering merger clearance decision in Singapore International Airlines’ acquisition of Tiger Airways.
Delivering the first conditional merger clearance decision where structural and behavioural remedies were accepted in Seek Limited’s acquisition of the assets of JobStreet Corporation in Singapore.