United Kingdom
Information Resources Inc. / Aztec Group – December 19, 2014
Information Resources, Inc. (“IRI”) and Aztec Group (“Aztec”) both supply retail measurement services (RMS) in the UK. IRI acquired the entire issued share capital of Aztec from its owner Aegis on 3 September 2013 (“the Merger”). The Merger was examined by the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) and was subject to an application of appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. On 4 July 2014, the OFT’s decision was quashed by agreement between the parties to the appeal and the case was remitted to the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”). The CMA assessed whether there is a realistic prospect that the Merger will lead to a substantial lessening of competition (“SLC”) in the provision of disaggregated convenience electronic point of sale (“ePOS”) data, disaggregated grocery ePOS data, and aggregated ePOS data.
Based on the evidence available to it, the CMA found that there was limited competition between IRI and Aztec pre-Merger. On the basis of the evidence available, the CMA found that the Merger would not lead to a SLC in this regard.
Asda Stores Limited / Co-operative Group Limited (5 stores) – December 22, 2014
Asda Stores Limited (Asda) is acquiring five grocery stores and three petrol filling stations with attached kiosks (the Target) from the Co-operative Group Limited (Co-op). The Parties overlap in the retail supply of fuel and groceries in five local areas in the UK.
The CMA considered whether the Merger would give rise to unilateral horizontal effects in relation to loss of existing competition and loss of potential competition. The CMA found that the Merger will not result in a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition (SLC) in the retail supply of fuel (national and local basis) and groceries. The proposed store would be subject to sufficient competitive constraints from other fascia in the local area.
United States of America
United States of America v. Flakeboard America Limited, Celulosa Arauco Y Constitución, S.A., Inversiones Angelini Y Compañía Limitada, And Sierrapine – November 7, 2014
The United States brought a civil antitrust action to challenge unlawful conduct by Flakeboard America Limited and its parent companies. Flakeboard agreed to acquire three competing mills from SierraPine. The Complaint alleged that the defendants’ conduct constituted a per se unlawful agreement to reduce output and allocate customers in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act and a premature transfer of beneficial ownership in violation of Section 7A of the Clayton Act.
United States of America: Federal Trade Commission – In the matter of Novartis AG – December 5, 2014
The case pertains to a proposed joint venture between GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) and Novartis. To preserve competition in the market for nicotine patches, the proposed consent order requires Novartis to divest Habitrol, as well as its private-label patch business to India-based Dr. Reddy’s. The Commission vote to accept the complaint and proposed consent order for public comment was 5-0.
In the Matter of Verisk/EagleView – December 17, 2014
The Federal Trade Commission issued an administrative complaint against the proposed $650 million acquisition of EagleView Technology Corporation by Verisk Analytics, alleging potential reduction of competition in the U.S. market for rooftop aerial measurement products.
In the Matter of Eli Lilly and Company and Novartis AG – December 22, 2014
The FTC’s complaint challenged the proposed $5.4 billion acquisition of Novartis Animal Health by Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly agreed to divest its Sentinel product line to settle charges of likely anticompetitive effects.
European Union (EU)
Mergers: European Commission clears acquisition of Taminco by Eastman – November 26, 2014
The European Commission approved the acquisition of Taminco Corporation by Eastman Chemical Company. The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns because of the companies’ moderate combined market shares.
Antitrust: European Commission fines five envelope producers over €19.4 million in cartel settlement – December 11, 2014
The European Commission found that Bong, GPV, Hamelin, Mayer-Kuvert, and Tompla coordinated their market behavior in breach of EU antitrust rules. Total fines amounted to €19,485,000.
Mergers: European Commission clears acquisition of aviation fuel supplier Statoil Fuel & Retail Aviation by BP – December 15, 2014
The Commission concluded that the acquisition of Statoil Fuel & Retail Aviation (“SFRA”) by BP was in line with EU merger regulation, conditional upon divestments at airports to maintain competition.
Mergers: European Commission approves acquisition of Lafarge by Holcim – December 15, 2014
The Commission approved the acquisition of Lafarge by Holcim, with conditions for divestments in overlapping operations to avoid adverse competition effects.
Mergers: European Commission clears acquisition of S-Oil by Saudi Aramco – December 03, 2014
The Commission approved the acquisition of S-Oil of South Korea by Saudi Aramco, noting limited overlaps and no competition concerns in the European Economic Area (EEA).
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The information in this private circulation is not legal advice and should not be treated as such. The information is taken from public domain and is purely for private and non-commercial purposes. We do not represent that the information is correct, accurate, complete or non-misleading.
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Doc ID: CL/09/14
