September 3, 2025
Brazil’s antitrust authority CADE has reached three settlement agreements in investigations into gun jumping—the early consummation of mergers or acquisitions without prior approval. The companies involved will pay more than BRL 1.5 million (about USD 300,000) to Brazil’s Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Rights (FDD).
Oil and gas sector transactions
Two of the cases involved Japanese trading and shipping groups Mitsui & Co. (Mitsui), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), Marine Projects Investment (MPIC), and Modec Holdings Netherlands (MHNL).
In the first, CADE examined the acquisition of stakes in Marlim1 MV33 B.V., responsible for the Anita Garibaldi floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO) in the Marlim oil field. Although the deal met the legal thresholds for mandatory notification under Brazil’s competition law, it was closed in 2020 but only notified to CADE in 2024.
A second case concerned the same parties’ acquisition of shares in Búzios5 MV32 B.V., operator of the FPSO Almirante Barroso. That transaction was completed in November 2019 but likewise only notified to CADE in March 2024. Both operations were deemed notifiable concentrations under Article 90 of Law No. 12.529/2011.
Agribusiness case
The third settlement involved Cooperativa Agroindustrial Copagril’s purchase of assets from Cia. Paraná de Alimentos (Paraná Supermercados). The contract closed in December 2023, but the transaction was not notified until July 2025, after CADE’s tribunal had already ruled that gun jumping had occurred and ordered notification.
Settlement terms
With the approval of the cease-and-desist commitments, the companies agreed to pay financial contributions exceeding BRL 1.5 million (about USD 300,000) to the FDD.
The decisions highlight CADE’s continued scrutiny of unnotified mergers and acquisitions across sectors, from oil and gas to agribusiness, and its use of settlements to address competition law breaches while avoiding lengthy litigation.
