Darija Ognjenovic

Darija Ognjenovic (LL.M) is a Partner at the Belgrade law firm Prica & Partners. She graduated and obtained her LL.M. degree from the Faculty of Law of Belgrade University. Darija joined Prica & Partners in 2004 and became a partner in 2009.

She provides competition law advice regarding mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, as well as in relation to state aid and public procurement.

As a leader of the firm’s competition practice, Darija has been in charge of many significant projects for major international companies in local procedures before the Serbian Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) for obtaining merger control approvals of their global mergers (Schering Plough/Merck, Nokia/Siemens, OTP Bank/Findomestic Bank, acquisition of 70% shares in the Serbian private healthcare provider Bel Medic by Acibadem Healthcare Group, acquisition by LafargeHolcim of Bridgestone's Firestone line of building products, several acquisitions of nut producers by Ferrero etc.)

She was also in charge of local procedures for acquisitions, such as global merger of Holcim/Lafarge and sale by Innova Capital of Trimo Group’s Serbian subsidiary to Kingspan, both in the Phase 2 procedures;

Darija represents her clients before the CPC in various antitrust related procedures. In the most recent case she has assisted a publishing company Klett in dawn raid and pending antitrust proceedings regarding alleged abuse of dominance on the market for primary school textbooks in the Republic of Serbia.

Darija contributed the Serbian chapter of Kluwer’s “Competition Law in Central and Eastern Europe: A Practitioner’s Guide”. Her LL.M. thesis was “Comparative presentation of merger clearance rules in US, EU and Serbia”.

Darija is a member of Belgrade Bar Association, International League of Competition Law (LIDC), Law Society of England and Wales Competition Section (non-practicing member), Women's Competition Network, ECDA (European Cartel Damages Association). In addition, she has been elected as Arbitrator of the Permanent Arbitration Court of Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

With over 20 years of professional experience, Darija is an established and well-known legal practitioner who is, according to IFLR 1000, “roundly praised by her clients”. They include HBO, Ferrero, H&M, Procter & Gamble, Mercator, Corteva, Asseco SEE, Sportina, Ringier Axel Springer, among others.