Competition Newsletter: February 2022

Antitrust

Bid rigging in public procurement

In repeated proceedings, the Serbian NCA once again established that four Serbian companies, active in the repair of rail vehicles, had been colluding in public procurement procedures between 2014 and 2016. Originally, the NCA rendered an infringement decision in this case back in 2017. However, that decision was quashed in the judicial review process and hence the need for a new ruling.

DR&G recommended in The Legal 500 Green Guide

The Legal 500 has issued its inaugural edition of the Green Guide EMEA - and Doklestic Repic & Gajin is the only Serbian law firm recommended in the publication.

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Antitrust

Two restrictive agreements exempted

The Montenegrin NCA has individually exempted from prohibition two restrictive agreements - one between insurance companies Lovćen and Generali and another between pharma companies STADA and Opella. As a reminder, Montenegro still has a system of individual exemption based on prior notification to the competition authority.

Merger control

Six new merger decisions

During February, the Montenegrin NCA published six new merger decisions:

• Agri Europe Cyprus Limited (Cyprus), AIK Banka a.d. Beograd (Serbia), Gorenjska Banka d.d. Kranj (Slovenia) - Sberbank d.d. (Croatia), Sberbank BH d.d. Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sberbank a.d. Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sberbank Magyarország Zrt. (Hungary), Sberbank Srbija a.d. Beograd (Serbia), Sberbank banka d.d. (Slovenia)
• Batting Limited (Cyprus) - Institut za izgradnju grada d.o.o. Beograd (Serbia)
• DGL International (UK) LTD - DP JUB delniška družba poodblaščenka“ d.d. Ljubljana (Slovenia)
• Generali Participations Netherlands N.V. - Generali India Life Insurance Company Limited (India)
• MK Land SPV d.o.o. Beograd (Serbia) - DOO Mirotin Vrbas (Serbia)
• Novi Volvox d.o.o. (Montenegro), Leitner S.P.A. (Italy) [JV]

Merger control

Two new merger notifications

During February, the Bosnian NCA announced the receipt of two new merger notifications:

• NIS a.d. Novi Sad (Serbia) - HIP-PETROHEMIJA a.d. Pančevo (Serbia), concerning a concentration taking place on the market for polyethylene products;
• Agri Europe Cyprus Limited (Cyprus), AIK Banka a.d. Beograd (Serbia), Gorenjska Banka d.d. Kranj (Slovenia) - Sberbank d.d. Zagreb (Croatia), Sberbank BH d.d. Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sberbank a.d. Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sberbank Magyarorszag Zrt. (Hungary), Sberbank Srbija a.d. Beograd (Serbia), Sberbank banka d.d. Ljubljana (Slovenia), concerning a concentration taking place on the market for banking services.

Merger control

Fourteen new merger notifications

During February, the North Macedonian NCA announced the receipt of 14 new merger notifications:

• A4nXT GmbH (Germany), Lufthansa Industry Solutions AS GmbH (Germany)
• Dr.-Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (Germany) - Fazua GmbH (Germany)
• Lamium Trade Limited (Cyprus), ALFI Renewables d.o.o. (Slovenia) - Ivicom Energy d.o.o. (Serbia)
• Highprop Investments (South Africa) - SCM Retail dooel (North Macedonia)
• United Media Sarl (Luxembourg) - Ascanius Media d.o.o. (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Ascanius Media d.o.o. (Slovenia)
• Robert Bosch Internationale Beteiligungen AG (Germany) - Elpro Group AG (Switzerland)
• Aramco Overseas Company B.V. (Netherlands) - Lotos SPV 1 sp. z o.o. (Poland)
• Fashion Company d.o.o. (Serbia) - Movem & Co. d.o.o. (Serbia)
• Aramco Overseas Company B.V. (Netherlands) - LOTOS - Air BP Polska sp. z o.o. (Poland)
• Viva Fresh shpk (Kosovo) - KIT-GO dooel (North Macedonia)
• SABIC International Holdings B.V. (Netherlands) - SD Verwaltungsgesellscaft mbH (Germany), SD Beteiligungsesellscaft mbH & Co. KG (Germany), SD Lizenzverwertungsgesellscaft mbH & Co. KG (Germany)
• Ravago Chemicals S.A. (Luxembourg) - Pharma Greven GmbH (Germany)
• Generali IARD SA (France) - La Medicale (France)
• Všeobecná úverová banka, a.s. (Slovakia), Slovenská sporiteľňa, a.s. (Slovakia), Tatra banka, a.s. (Slovakia), 365.bank, a. s. (Slovakia), Československá obchodná banka, a.s. (Slovakia) [JV]