Publishing Company De Persgroep Withdraws Appeal Against Clearance of Mediahuis Merger
- 03/07/2017
- Articles
On 28 June 2017, the Brussels Court of Appeal (Hof van beroep te Brussel/Cour d’appel de Bruxelles) gave a judgment sanctioning the decision of media company De Persgroep to withdraw its appeal against the decision of the Belgian Competition Authority (Belgische Mededingingsautoriteit/Autorité belge de la Concurrence) (“BCA”) to clear the creation of “Mediahuis”.
In 2013, the BCA reviewed a notification concerning the proposed creation of Mediahuis, a joint venture of multimedia companies Corelio NV (publisher of, inter alia, newspapers De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad) and Concentra NV (publisher of, inter alia, newspapers Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belang van Limburg). During the merger review process, competing media company De Persgroep expressed concerns that Mediahuis would hold a dominant position on the Belgian market of regional thematic advertisement in Dutch-speaking newspapers (including free newspapers). De Persgroep feared that such a dominant position would enable Mediahuis to offer advertising bundles at very attractive prices, thereby excluding its competitors from the market.
However, the BCA considered that it was unlikely that Mediahuis would engage in exclusionary commercial practices and therefore decided to approve the creation of Mediahuis on 25 October 2013, subject to conditions aiming at ensuring that Mediahuis’ newspapers would continue to exist for at least five years. De Persgroep initially decided to appeal this decision before the Brussels Court of Appeal. For undisclosed reasons, De Persgroep has now decided to withdraw its appeal.
In its judgment of 28 June 2017 confirming this withdrawal, the Court of Appeal included at the request of the parties a statement in which the BCA recalls that, although the Mediahuis joint venture was cleared, Belgian and European competition laws continue to apply to Mediahuis, and that bundles including dominant products are anticompetitive unless objectively justified. This statement, unusual because of its incorporation in a judgment taking note of the withdrawal of an appeal, echoes the concerns expressed by De Persgroep in 2013.