Executive Committee
The European Union reported yesterday (Press release)
that her investigation into the merger of the Norwegian companies Salmar and NTS was being concluded
with conditions, which include that the subsidiary Arctic Fish will be sold to
from the merged company.
Mergers and subsidiaries
their work in fish farming, mostly in Norway but also in Iceland, and are registered
to the market on the Oslo Stock Exchange. One of the consequences of the merger would have been that
Arnarlax and Arctic Fish, which operate
Marine aquaculture in the Westfjords would come under the control of a single entity. Combined, they would control
the companies over almost half of the production capacity compared to issued licences
for sea-cage farming in Iceland.
As the transaction is partly
to the Icelandic product market which falls outside the scope of the EEA Agreement
the merger was also notified to the Competition Authority. In order to ensure
In continuity of investigation and findings, the Competition Authority has been in close
in cooperation with the Commission. Having regard to this conclusion,
The Competition Authority concludes its investigation.
That was the conclusion of the study.
of the Commission that Icelandic farmed salmon belongs to a specific product market. Would
The merger, if unaltered, will lead to a significant distortion of competition by
The combined company would be by far the largest producer of Icelandic salmon.
The EEA area. In the Commission's view, this would have led to higher prices and
fewer options for trading in Icelandic salmon. To respond to that
As a result of the competition disruption, SalMar was offered the opportunity to divest the NTS operations here.
country, specifically Arctic Fish.
After market testing the conditions
it was concluded that they would prevent a distortion of competition due to
of the merger. The decision is conditional upon the full satisfaction of the conditions.
The merger was also announced to the Norwegians.
to the competition authorities, but they decided early on not to take action regarding the merger,
due to his limited impact in Norway.
The merger was announced to
The competition authority was adequately consulted this summer. Views were sought and
information from market and stakeholders which, among other things, provided grounds for
intend that the party's market share in the relevant markets of the case would be considerable. Was
the merger parties were notified that there was reason for further investigation into
the merger's competitive effects at the end of August. Shortly afterwards, the merger was
notified to the European Commission, but prior to this, detailed preliminary talks had taken place.
place.
Soon, peace talks began.
between the merging parties and the Commission which concluded in the aforementioned manner.
The Competition Authority monitored the talks while they were ongoing, but the authority
Reviewed the conditions and held regular meetings with the executive board. As before
The Competition Authority will now conclude its investigation, but the conditions of the Commission
is a crucial prerequisite for the outcome of the matter here in the country.
During the investigation of the case, they requested
the merger parties requested that the Competition Authority grant an exemption in order to
carry out the merger, despite the ongoing investigation, on the basis that
would be to discuss a takeover bid under Norwegian law and accordingly, the parties would
to finalise the transaction in the coming days. The Competition Authority has granted
this exemption with certain conditions.
"*" indicates required fields
