The CPC has authorized UNITED MEDIA to acquire Telegraph Newspaper Ltd

By Decision No. 369/08.04.2021 the Commission for Protection of Competition imposed a pecuniary sanction in the amount of 434 634 BGN on SMART SM OOD for committed infringement of art. 15 of the Law on Protection of Competition (LPC), manifested in participation in a prohibited agreement for resale price fixing of child care and mother care products between SMART SM and its clients.

By Decision № 39/14.01.2021, the Commission on Protection of Competition has authorized UNITED MEDIA S.a.r.l., Luxembourg to acquire sole control over Telegraph Newspaper Ltd and joint control over Izdatelska Kashta Borba AD under Art. 26, para. 1 of the LPC.

In view of the parallel proceedings in under file CPC/883/2020 for the acquisition of sole control by United Media over Nova Broadcasting Group and its subsidiaries, the Commission considered also Nova’s Group activities for defining the markets where the concentration will have an impact.

The Commission found that the transaction leads to horizontal overlap on the markets for internet and print advertising in Bulgaria. The CPC analyzed also the vertical effects of these markets with the market for mobile telecommunications services, where the acquiring control group operates.

Based on the lack of market leadership in the concentration on the Internet and print advertising markets, as well as BTC in the provision of mobile telecommunications services and the absence of the telecommunications sector among the leading advertisers, the Commission considered that the notified transaction does not lead to anti-competitive horizontal and vertical effects. The implementation of the concentration mainly expands and diversifies the product portfolio of United Group in Bulgaria.

The full text of Decision № 39/14.01.2021 is available in the public electronic register of the CPC at http://reg.cpc.bg/Decision.aspx?DecID=300059172.