The Uruguayan Competition Commission approved the transaction, accepting the remedies offered and negotiated with the parties, in the first phase 2 procedure approval in Uruguay.
The Uruguayan Competition Commission approved with remedies the merger between IB OPCO HOLDING S.L. (IAG Group, Iberia) and GLOBALIA CORPORACION EMPRESARIAL S.A. (Air Europa). Both companies operate the Montevideo-Madrid route, with no other competitors on that route operating direct flights.
The current merger control regulations, introduced by Law 19,833, entered into force in April 2020. With this decision, the Commission for the first time approved a transaction in a “phase 2” procedure, with remedies offered and negotiated with the parties.
The Commission first decided to enter phase 2 due to several factors: the complexity of the air transport industry, the current market fragility related to the coronavirus pandemic and the horizontal overlap caused by the transaction in the companies’ flights.
The Commission’s decision (including the applicable remedies) is available at the Commission’s website (in Spanish), which can be found here.
The FERRERE team was led by Alejandro Alterwain, who acted on behalf of both parties in Uruguay.