Excerpt from the English-language press release from the Hellenic Competition Commission:
“The Plenary Session of the HCC (Hellenic Competition Commission) concluded that, although the merger may significantly restrict the operation of competition, in particular by creating or strengthening a dominant position, in the relevant markets for the provision of maritime transport services for passengers, cars and trucks in certain pairs of ports (Origin-Destination) in Crete and the Adriatic, the three conditions of the failing firm defence are fulfilled.
More specifically, the Competition Commission concluded that:
- a) ANEK would be forced to exit the market in the near future due to its financial difficulties,
- b) that there was no other alternative acquisition option, less harmful to competition, other than the notified concentration, and
- c) that there was no credible interest in acquiring the assets of ANEK and therefore the company’s assets would exit the market.
In any event, on the balance and the overall of the affected markets, the competitive structure will not be worse as a result of the merger than it would be in case of a non-liquidation of the company’s assets, and is therefore not causally related to it.”