EDIZIONE HOLDING/AUTOSTRADE- CONCESSIONI E COSTRUZIONI AUTOSTRADE
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
The Competition Authority has fined Edizione Holding euro 15 million, for failing to comply with the conditions laid down for the acquisition of Autostrade
At its meeting on 12 December 2002 the Competition Authority resolved that Edizione Holding had failed to comply with the conditions set for the acquisition of the Autostrade company, and therefore imposed a fine of euro 15.8 million.
On 2 March 2000, the Authority ascertained that the acquisition of the controlling interest of Autostrade by Edizione Holding, which already controlled Autogrill, would strengthen its dominant position on the motorway catering markets and only authorised the acquisition on condition that the company fully complied with a number of measures to correct the anti-competitive effects that the acquisition was likely to have. One of these in particular was that Autostrade and its subsidiaries would commission the management of the tender for the assignment of franchises for the motorway catering services, including setting the conditions for participation and the rules for adjudication, to one or more independent third parties of very high standing, as means of guaranteeing the impartiality of the competitive tender for the acquisition, and the Authority had received assurances from the parties that they would comply.
The investigation that began on 25 September 2002 into Edizione Holding and Autostrade, claiming that they had failed to comply with the conditions set by the Authority, based on evidence taken from a number of documents gathered in the course of the inspections, found that:
a) Autostrade had directly taken part in designing the architecture of the tenders and the procedures for the award of the franchises, including setting the conditions for participation and the parameters for adjudication, instead of delegating these tasks to the adviser, as it was supposed to have done under the conditions imposed by the Authority;
B) Autogrill had been kept informed of the strategies that Autostrade was planning for the tenders, both by having access to the documents drawn up by Autostrade and thanks to the possibility to attend specific meetings between the management of both companies, which gave it advance information, to the detriment of its competitors;
C) the conduct of Edizione Holding following the measure issued in March 2000 had ignored the conditions imposed by the Authority, and had enabled Autostrade to cease to be neutral in the design of the procedures for the tender and the award of catering services sub-franchises.
The Authority found Edizione Holding liable as the party directly affected by the conditional decision for authorisation. Considering the serious nature of the violation, which have been prejudicial to the opening up to competition of the market for awarding subfranchises for the supply of services on the motorway network, where Autostrade holds a dominant position, and the motorway catering services market, where Autogrill held a dominant position, the Authority imposed a fine on Edizione Holding of 3% of the relevant turnover, namely euro 15.8 million.
Rome, 13 December 2002