20 March 2015​

 

 

On March 19, 2015, the Portuguese Competition Authority (PCA) declared the extinction of the merger proceedings concerning the acquisition of sole control of Cemusa by JCDecaux, in the field of outdoor advertising.

On August 7, 2014, the PCA has adopted a decision to open an in-depth investigation, on the grounds that the transaction in question raised serious doubts concerning possible significant impediments to effective competition, thereby justifying additional assessments.

The concerns raised were related to the increase of the degree of market concentration, competitive closeness between the undertakings participating in the concentration and the existing barriers to entry and to expansion, which could be increased with the merger.

Given the concerns identified by the PCA during the in-depth investigation phase, JCDecaux submitted a “remedies” package on February 10, 2015 and a new package on March 10, the PCA not having decided on their acceptance.

On March 18, 2015, JCDecaux presented an application for withdrawal of the merger proceedings, following which the PCA declared it extinct.

Throughout the procedure the PCA has received and assessed a set of observations submitted by the following third parties:  APAME – Associação Portuguesa das Agências de Meios, APAN – Associação Portuguesa de Anunciantes, APEPE – Associação Portuguesa das Empresas de Publicidade Exterior and MOP – Multimédia Outdoors Portugal, S.A., who expressed their views against the merger operation as notified.

The operation had been notified to the PCA on May 2, 2014.