The French Competition Authority conditionally cleared a concentration in the transport sector leading to conglomerate anticompetitive effects by acce
The French Competition Authority (ADC) conditionally cleared the transaction by which the French incumbent train operator SNCF, through its subsidiary SNCF-P, and the Caisse de Dépôt et Placements du Québec (CDPQ) would jointly acquire the control on the bus operator Keolis and Effiae, a transport consultancy). The concentration was originally notified to the European Commission. Believing that the concentration would only have effects on French national markets, the ADC filed a request for a referral of the case pursuant to Article 9 (2) (a) of EC Regulation 139/2004. The Commission found that the notified concentration affected a number of markets for passenger transport services and for auxiliary services having only a French dimension. The Commission considered that the ADC had already reached a considerable knowledge of the affected markets through the enquiry into the competition issues regarding intermodal passenger transport. Therefore, it decided to refer the concentratio...