The Lithuanian Competition Council has published a decision regarding the acquisition of Lrytas UAB
22 Diciembre 2023 - 4:05AM
The Lithuanian Competition Council has published a decision
regarding the acquisition of Lrytas UAB
Ekspress Grupp is challenging in court a
decision issued by the Lithuanian
Competition Council, by which it imposed a fine on the company for
violating the competition rules when purchasing the news portal
Lrytas in Lithuania.
On 22 December, the Lithuanian Competition Council published a
decision in which concludes that Ekspress Grupp was under
obligation to obtain permission of the Lithuanian Competition
Council for the acquisition of Lrytas prior to the implementation
of the transaction but failed to do so. The decision imposed EUR
140 460 fine on Ekspress Grupp and obligation to remedy the
situation.
Mari-Liis Rüütsalu, Chairman of the Management Board of Ekspress
Grupp, noted that Ekspress Grupp does not agree with the positions
of the Lithuanian Competition Council and is going to challenge the
decision in court:
„The nature of the dispute concerns the interpretation of the
geographical allocation of Lrytas turnover before the transaction
under Lithuanian law. According to Lithuanian competition rules,
transactions that exceed certain turnover limits can only be
carried out with the prior permission of the Lithuanian Competition
Council. We and our legal advisers from the law firm Ellex are of
the opinion that the Lithuanian turnover of the companies before
acquiring the portal was below the 20 million euros limit that
required consent and the prior consent of the competition authority
was not required. In our view, our position is compliant with
European competition rules. Tax authorities in various European
countries also classify the generation of turnover according to a
similar geographical principle to us. However, the competing
Lithuanian news portal 15min, owned by Postimees Grupp, filed a
complaint against the transaction, on the basis of which the agency
carried out a supervisory procedure.
We want the court to make a legal assessment of the matter and
we will act accordingly. If the decision of Competition Council
will not be suspended by a court for the period of legal dispute,
Ekspress Grupp will have to go through a merger control procedure.
According to the law, Ekspress Grupp will also be required to pay
the amount of the fine imposed for the duration of the litigation,
despite its disagreement with the findings of the
authority."
At the end of 2022, AS Ekspress Grupp and the publisher of the
largest Lithuanian newspaper UAB "Lietuvos rytas" signed an
agreement to acquire 100% shares of UAB "Lrytas", a subsidiary that
publishes the online news portal lrytas.lt. Founded in 2006,
lrytas.lt is a Lithuanian news portal that delivers news in
Lithuanian and English languages.
Mari-Liis RüütsaluChairman of the Management Board+372 512 2591
mariliis.ryytsalu@egrupp.ee
AS Ekspress Grupp is the leading Baltic media
group whose key activities include web media content production,
and publishing of newspapers, magazines and books. The Group also
operates an electronic ticket sales platform and ticket sales
offices and offers outdoor screen service in Estonia and Latvia.
Ekspress Grupp launched its operations in 1989 and employs almost
1100 people.
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