Dear Readers,
This week we published 55 stories — an average volume by our standards, but the developments certainly packed a punch.
Authorities launched five new investigations, imposed seven fines, and continued to show assertive enforcement across sectors and jurisdictions.
Our in-depth analysis this week examines the growing wave of agri-sector investigations across Europe, where regulators are simultaneously scrutinising buyer power in food retail, vertical restraints and upstream coordination.
Another major policy development came from Türkiye, which introduced significant changes to its merger control thresholds and refined the technology undertaking exception — changes with immediate effect for all pending reviews.
Below is our selection of the most significant developments published this week, grouped by category.
Sylwester Frazzoni
Managing Editor
Merger Review
Merger control remained active globally, with several conditional clearances and in-depth probes shaping the week. In Italy, the authority cleared Conad Adriatico’s acquisition of Risto Cash & Carry, Eurocisette and Cisette Più Sette subject to divestments and contractual remedies in local grocery markets.
Chile’s FNE approved Saval’s acquisition of Sanitas and Chemopharma in Phase II, requiring divestments linked to three medicines.
Mauritius cleared the Swan–CMB merger subject to behavioural undertakings in stockbroking services.
Sweden opened an in-depth investigation into Hypergene’s proposed acquisition of Stratsys, citing concerns in the strategic planning software market.
In Brazil, CADE ordered the renotification of Clickbus’ acquisition of RJ Participações over filing deficiencies and separately settled a gun-jumping case involving Libra Football League.
The headline policy shift came from Türkiye, where updated merger thresholds and amendments to the tech exception regime took immediate effect, reshaping notification strategy for ongoing and future transactions.
Antitrust Enforcement And Investigations
Enforcement activity was robust, with five new investigations and multiple cartel and dominance decisions.
In Hungary, the GVH launched two proceedings into the OTC medicines market, examining alleged restrictive shelf placement practices and potential abuse of dominance. Croatia opened a cartel probe into construction firms linked to earthquake reconstruction tenders, while Spain initiated sanctioning proceedings against 11 engineering consultancies over alleged bid-rigging. Denmark conducted inspections in the EV charging sector, and Greece advanced its investigation into alleged infringements in money transfer services.
Seven fines were imposed across jurisdictions. Korea fined three sugar producers approximately $283.5 million for long-running price coordination and separately sanctioned waste collection bid-rigging. Malaysia’s tribunal upheld a $106.3 million chicken feed cartel fine. India’s CCI fined Intel for abuse of dominance in desktop microprocessors. Authorities in Lithuania, Slovakia, Ecuador and Indonesia also imposed cartel or collusion fines. In the US, a company executive pleaded guilty in a military procurement bid-rigging case.
Digital Markets
Digital enforcement continued on both competition and regulatory fronts. The European Commission issued a Statement of Objections to Meta concerning alleged exclusion of third-party AI assistants from WhatsApp. In the UK, the CMA secured commitments from Apple and Google aimed at improving app store fairness and interoperability under the new digital markets regime.
Separately, the European Commission preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the Digital Services Act over allegedly addictive platform design, while the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal stayed damages proceedings against Google following a settlement.
Policy And Guidance
China’s SAMR issued pricing compliance guidelines for the automotive industry and new utilities sector antitrust guidelines, signalling continued regulatory refinement in key infrastructure and industrial sectors.
View all 55 this week’s news stories here.
