Focus Antitrust - 7 December 2016

In The News

CMA obtains director disqualification undertaking for competition law breach

The CMA has announced its first disqualification of a director of a company found to have infringed competition law. Daniel Aston, managing director of the online poster supplier Trod Ltd, has given a disqualification undertaking not to act as a director of any UK company for 5 years. The disqualification follows the CMA's decision of 12 August 2016 that Trod breached competition law by agreeing with one of its competing online sellers that they would not undercut each other's prices for posters and frames sold on Amazon's UK website. Click here.

CAA sends statement of objections in relation to airport parking at East Midlands airport

The CAA has issued a statement of objections to East Midlands International Airport Ltd, its parent company the Manchester Airports group Plc, and Prestige Parking Ltd. The statement of objections sets out the CAA concerns in relation to a suspected agreement to fix parking prices at East Midlands International Airport, supported by information exchange and monitoring. The agreement was implemented as a condition of a lease and concession granted to Prestige Parking Ltd to provide car parking facilities at the airport between October 2007 and September 2012. As part of the agreement, the parties agreed that Prestige would only sell its car parking services to consumers for at least the same price as the airport's own car parking prices. Click here.

European Commission fines Crédit Agricole, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase €485 million for euro interest rate derivatives cartel

The European Commission has fined Crédit Agricole, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase a total of €485 million for participating in a cartel in euro interest rate derivatives. The Commission found that the banks colluded on euro interest rate derivative pricing elements and exchanged sensitive information. The Commission reached a settlement with a number of other parties concerning the same cartel in December 2013. Click here.

EU

Mergers

• The European Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft. The decision is conditional on compliance with a series of commitments aimed at preserving competition between professional social networks in Europe. Click here.

UK

CMA

• The CMA has cleared the completed acquisition of the marine safety business of Wilhelmsen Maritime Services A/S by Survitec Group Ltd. In its investigation the CMA found that the merger could lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the supply of leased commercial life rafts. However, the CMA has decided to exercise its discretion not to refer the merger for an in-depth investigation due to the market concerned being of insufficient size to warrant the costs of such an investigation. Click here.
• The CMA has announced that it is investigating suspected anti-competitive agreements between a supplier of light fittings and its resellers under Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998 and/or Article 101. Click here.

This article was written by Paul Stone. For more information, please contact Paul on +44 (0)20 7203 5110 or at paul.stone@crsblaw.com.