ANTITRUST AUTHORITY OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO ACEA AND SUEZ OVER ALLEGED ANTI-COMPETITIVE ARRANGEMENT IN WATER SECTOR
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
ANTITRUST AUTHORITY OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO ACEA AND SUEZ OVER ALLEGED ANTI-COMPETITIVE ARRANGEMENT IN WATER SECTOR
This follows purchase of 40% of Publiacqua SpA by Acque Blu Fiorentine of which they are shareholders
The Italian Competition Authority, at its meeting on 31 May 2006, opened an investigation into the companies Publiacqua S.p.A., Acea S.p.A. and Suez Environnement S.A. regarding conduct which may constitute one or more anti-competitive arrangements.
The Authority's decision is based on the conduct of Acea and Suez in presenting themselves jointly as a "temporary joint-venture" (ATI) to bid for the 40% of Publiacqua (PBA) offered on 23 October 2002 by the City of Florence, in its role as lead entity and assignee of other public bodies in Tuscany. PBA is a company which manages water services within Territory no. 3 - the Medio-Valdarno in the Region of Tuscany (ATO3). The final winning bid was announced, after many delays, in February 2006, 40% of Publiacqua being purchased by Acque Blu Fiorentine, a new company set up by Acea, Suez Environnement, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Società Italiana per Lavori Marittimi, Consorzio Toscano Costruzione S.c.a.r.l. and Consorzio Cooperative Costruzioni.
The joint participation by Acea and Suez in the bidding for this 40% of Publiacqua is a repetition of what the two companies did on at least two other occasions within the region of Tuscany. Such choices may constitute an anti-competitive arrangement between two leading operators in the sector with the aim of avoiding competition. This conduct must also be analysed in the light of the Suez Group's shareholding in Acea of 9.899%, which gives it the right to nominate at least one Member of the Board of Directors. In Italy, moreover, Acea and the Suez Group have for some time had significant common operating and commercial interests in the energy sector by way of their jointly-held business Acea Electrabel S.p.A. The overall situation, then, may indicate wider coordination between Acea and Suez as to their strategies in the national marketplace.
Basically, the Authority wishes to determine whether any arrangement, on the one hand, may have distorted the outcome of a tendering process of community importance, and on the other hand, may amount to a coordinated approach by Suez and Acea to the whole of Italy, with the possible division into compartments of the Italian market for water services.
The investigation must be concluded by 30 September 2007.
Rome, 8 June 2006