The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has given her  consent to the transaction of two companies operating on the sales market of bottled gas. Consequently, Gaspol is allowed to acquire a part of assets of Orlen Gaz. However, the concentration can be implemented under strictly specified conditions

Gaspol applied to UOKiK to grant a consent so that the company could acquire a part of assets belonging to Orlen Gaz. Both companies operate in petrol industry. The acquiring entity is the leading distributor of LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) in Poland. It supplies undertakings and consumers with autogas, bottled and container-gas. The agreement concerning the sales of part of assets, rights and obligations of Orlen Gaz in the sector of bottled gas provided the basis for notifying the transaction. As the total turnover of participants to the transaction exceeded in the territory of Poland the equivalent of EUR 50 million and the turnover of the acquired assets in the last two years exceeded the equivalent of EUR 10 million, the concentration was subject to notification to the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

Based on evidence collected in the proceedings, including the sector inquiry, the Office decided that the intended transaction would result in a significant restriction of competition on local markets, within areas surrounding the four bottling plants belonging at present to Orlen Gaz. The restrictions will affect the retail sales market of bottled gas for industry (close to bottling plants located in Ugoszcz, Płock, Krosno Odrzańskie and Hrubieszów). The implementation of the intended transaction would bring its participants a significant advantage over the other undertakings operating on these markets. Moreover, the consumers of bottled gas would have a limited possibility to select their supplier. For this reason the Office made the implementation of the transaction dependent on fulfiling strictly specified obligations.

The President of UOKiK decided that the transaction can the performed on fulfiling the condition which is to decrease the share of Gaspol on certain markets. Gaspol may acquire a part of assets of its competitor provided that, among others, the entity in a year time from implementing the transaction prevents from taking any actions to acquire the previous recipients of Orlen Gas. Furthermore, the merging companies were prohibited to convey one another any information on the previous recipients of Orlen Gas. The acquiring entity was obliged to provide the Office with information on the way of performing the imposed condition within the deadlines of the issued decision.

When looking into concentration cases, the President of UOKiK may prohibit a transaction, grant a consent to implement such, or make it dependent upon fulfiling certain conditions by an undertaking. This has been the 16th conditional consent since 2004. The Office has already issued 63 decisions this year and this is the first time the green light has relied on fulfilment by undertakings of a specified obligation.

The decision is not final. The notifying party may lodge an appeal to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection. Please also note that information on all concentration-related antitrust proceedings conducted by UOKiK is available on its website.

Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Tel.: +48 22 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 430
Fax: +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]