EDIZIONE HOLDING/AUTOSTRADE
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
THE COMPETITION AUTHORITY HAS INSTITUTED PROCEEDINGS AGAINST EDIZIONE HOLDING AND AUTOSTRADE FOR FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE CONDITIONS IMPOSED TO PERMIT THE CONCENTRATION BETWEEN THE TWO COMPANIES
At its meeting on 12 September 2002 the Competition Authority instituted proceedings against Edizione Holding and Autostrade to investigate their alleged violation of section 19(1) of the Competition Act, law No 287/90, for having failed to comply with the conditions laid down by the Authority two years ago when authorising the concentration between the two companies.
Having ascertained that Edizione Holding's acquisition of the controlling interest in Autostrade which already controlled Autogrill would strengthen Autogrill's dominant position on the motorway catering markets, in its measure of 2 March 2000, the Authority had authorised the takeover only on condition that a number of measures were fully adopted to correct the anti-competitive effects that the operation was likely to produce.
Among others, the Authority required Autostrade and its subsidiaries to assign the management of the competitive tender for the assignment of the franchises for the provision of motorway catering services to one or more independent, leading third companies, including the setting of the tender requirements and the parameters for adjudication. The rationale behind this condition was that it was essential for an independent third party to be placed between Autostrade and Autogrill in order to ensure that the tender was conducted impartially.
In the course of recent proceedings, documentation had been acquired from Autogrill showing that:
a) Autostrade had directly taken part in designing the architecture of the tenders and the tendering procedures, which included setting the requirements for bidding and the parameters for adjudication, instead of delegating these tasks to the adviser as it should have done in compliance with the conditions laid down by the Authority;
b) Autogrill had been kept briefed of the strategies that Autostrade had set for the tenderiug procedures, both by being given access to documents drafted by Autostrade and also by attending meetings specially convened between the management of both companies, which placed it in an advantageous position with regard to the information available to it, to the detriment of its competitors.
Since Autostrade had worked with the adviser to draw up the procedures for the tender and had assisted Autogrill by providing it with prior information on the tender, Autostrade and Edizione Holding had failed to comply with the conditions that had been laid down for proceeding with the Edizione Holding/Autostrade takeover.
The investigation will be completed within 90 days of service of notice on the parties.
Rome, 25 September 2002