The Italian antitrust authority has asked the European Commission to allow it to review CK Hutchison’s planned €21.8bn (US$24.6bn) merger of subsidiary 3 Italia with Vimpelcom’s Wind Telecomunicazioni. An AGCM spokesperson said the authority has made the referral request as “the transaction exclusively concerns the Italian territory”.
The Italian antitrust authority has asked the European Commission to allow it to review CK Hutchison’s (SEHK:0013) planned €21.8bn (US$24.6bn) merger of subsidiary 3 Italia with Vimpelcom’s (NASDAQ:VIP) Wind Telecomunicazioni.
“The European Commission has received a referral request from the Italian authorities and we are assessing it,” a Commission spokesperson said.
Following the request by the Italian authority, the AGCM, the EC has extended its preliminary analysis of the deal to 30 March from 11 March.
An AGCM spokesperson said the authority has made the referral request as “the transaction exclusively concerns the Italian territory and could therefore impact on competition within the Italian market”.
The Commission rejected a similar referral request by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to review CK Hutchison’s bid to consolidate the UK market last October.
It also rebuffed a 2013 request by the German antitrust authority to review Telefónica Deutschland’s planned acquisition of E-Plus. At the time, the EC said it believed it was better placed to review the deal in light of its extensive experience and that it wanted to ensure consistency across telecoms mergers.
The AGCM’s move comes as the Hong Kong-based group awaits the final word on its agreed £10.5bn (US$15bn) UK acquisition of O2 from Telefónica (BME:TEF). That process has drawn opposition from Sharon White, CEO of local telecoms regulator Ofcom, in turn triggering a public letter by CK Hutchison chief Canning Fok (pictured).
Like the UK merger, the Italian combination would reduce the number of mobile network operators from four to three, a structure EC competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has so far not supported. TeliaSonera and Telenor were forced to scrap their plans for a Danish joint venture after failing to agree antitrust remedies with the commission.
Unlike the UK deal, which would create a market leader, the Italian merger involves the number three and four players, which would form a stronger rival to Telecom Italia and Vodafone.
CK Hutchison did win approval to carry out similar mergers in Austria and Ireland from her predecessor Joaquín Almunia after agreeing to concessions aimed at strengthening existing MVNOs.
Vestager, though, has previously indicated that she prefers structural remedies because they “solve competition concerns once and for all.”
The AGCM was not immediately available for comment.