The Italian Competition Authority clears the vertical Atlantia/Gemina merger as amended by the parties
While under EU merger control regulation it is possible to impose a remedy to address the competition problems of the under review merger, the Italian Competition Act n. 287/1990 does not allow the merging parties and the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) to agree on remedies during the first phase of investigation. However, the parties may take benefit from informal talks with the ICA about possible competition problems and how to resolve them. This seems what may have happened in the Atlantia/Gemina case recently decided by the ICA. Through the implementation of the merger as originally notified to the ICA, the Edizione group would acquire the sole control of the entity resulting from the combination between Atlantia and Gemina. Gemina owns ADR, the manager of the Rome’s airports of Fiumicino and Ciampino and Atlantia, already controlled by Edizione, owns WDFG active in travel retail sector and Autogrill active in the airport catering market. In other words, the implement