On Thursday 19 November, the European Commission announced that it is referring the proposed acquisition of a newly created joint venture by Telefónica S.A. (based in Spain) and Liberty Global plc (based in the UK) to the UK’s competition authority, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), at the CMA’s request.
The proposed joint venture will combine the activities of Telefónica UK Limited (‘O2’) and Virgin Media, which belongs to Liberty Global.
Both companies are active in the United Kingdom’s telecommunications sector.
On 30 September this year, Telefónica and Liberty Global notified the Commission of the proposed transaction. On 8 October, the UK competition authority asked the Commission to allow it to carry out its own assessment of the proposed merger. The Commission raised competition concerns in a number of UK telecommunications markets (retail and wholesale markets for mobile services and the market for leased lines). The United Kingdom authority also argued that it would be well placed to review the deal, in view of the imminent expiry of the transitional period.
The Commission found that the proposed deal threatens competition in the UK telecommunications sector, where Telefónica and Liberty Global are both major market players.
The Commission has therefore decided to refer the proposed transaction to the UK competition authority, which will deal with the case under national rules.
More information on this matter can be found at: https://bit.ly/2IShTki (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)