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Friday, 16 April 2021

Decision 733/2021

Clearance of the proposed transaction, notified under ref. no. 1913/2021, consisting in the acquisition by “DEPA COMMERCIAL S.A.” of joint control over the “NORTH SOLAR S.A.” by its existing shareholders Panagiotis Petrochilos, Anthi Golia, Anna-Kanelia Kampouri, Panagiotis Kampouris, Christos Petrochilos, Ioannis Katrism Christina Koutsoupia, Georgios Syrganis, Ioannis Georgiou, Constantinos Terzis, Panagiotis Lagouranis, Panagiotis Zervas, Eleni Palaiolouga, the company “MES ENERGY S.A.”, a subsidiary company of the MESOGEOS group, and the company “DEPA COMMERCIAL S.A.”

Decision 733/2021
File (PDF) Decision 733/2021
Date of Publication of Decision April 16th, 2021
Issue Number of Government Bulletin
Publication pending
Relevant Market  Generation and wholesale supply of electricity
Subject of the Decision Clearance of the proposed transaction, notified under ref. no. 1913/2021, consisting in the acquisition by “DEPA COMMERCIAL S.A.” of joint control over the “NORTH SOLAR S.A.” by its existing shareholders Panagiotis Petrochilos, Anthi Golia, Anna-Kanelia Kampouri, Panagiotis Kampouris, Christos Petrochilos, Ioannis Katrism Christina Koutsoupia, Georgios Syrganis, Ioannis Georgiou, Constantinos Terzis, Panagiotis Lagouranis, Panagiotis Zervas, Eleni Palaiolouga, the company “MES ENERGY S.A.”, a subsidiary company of the MESOGEOS group, and the company “DEPA COMMERCIAL S.A.”
Legal Framework Article 6 L. 3959/2011
Operative part of the Decision By its unanimous decision, the competent Chamber of the Hellenic Competition Commission approved, pursuant to Article 8 of L. 3950/2011, as in force, the transaction notified on 01.03.2021 consisting in the acquisition by “DEPA COMMERCIAL S.A.” of joint control, together with the company’s sellers, through the purchase of 49% of the shares of “NORTH SOLAR S.A.” (which before the transaction was under the control of the sellers), as the proposed transaction, although falling within the scope of Art. 6(1) of Greek Law 3959/2011, does not raise any serious doubts as to its compatibility with the competition rules in the relevant markets involved.
Company(ies) concerned

DEPA COMMERCIAL S.A.

NORTH SOLAR S.A.
Summary of Decision The HCC considers that NORTHSOLAR will be active in the electricity generation market, a market in which DEPA COMMERCIAL S.A. is not active and therefore no horizontal relationship exists and, in this respect, nor any horizontally affected market. Furthermore, with regard to the market for the construction of power stations, a company belonging to the Sellers operates with a negligible market share(well below 25%). In relation to the retail electricity supply market, even if the existence of a vertical relationship between that market and the electricity generation /supply market was accepted, the market share of NATURAL GAS HELLENIC ENERGY COMPANY in the retail electricity supply, it is similarly considerably lower than 25%. In light of the above, it is assessed that the transaction under consideration, will not bring about changes in the structure of the aforementioned relevant markets, as it will not eliminate any substantial and active competitive pressure. Therefore, it does not raise serious doubts as to its compatibility with merger control rules in the relevant markets concerned by the concentration.
Judicial Means -
Decisions by the Court of Appeal of Athens (Administrative Division) -