Chile: Authorities to review CGE purchase by catalan gas giant Fenosa

The 2014 purchase of Chilean gas company CGE by the Catalan group Gas Natural Fenosa, completed over a year ago in a deal announced at $3.3 billion dollars, will be reviewed by the country’s competition authority, the Tribunal for Defense of Free Competition (TDLC), in order to determine whether any anticompetitive risks or effects have been caused by the largest merger involving a Chilean company in several years.

The TDLC subpoenaed 36 separate government agencies, companies, labor unions and their counterpart, the National Economic Prosecutors (FNE), requesting information used in the review process opened by the TDLC into vertical and horizontal integration in the Natural Gas industry, which originally included the CGE purchase.

The tribunal’s decision to reopen the case comes after a Supreme Court decision at the end of January, which upheld a complaint presented by the National Consumer Association (CONADECUS) against the organization.

Some sources have commented on the supreme court finding, led by Minister Pedro Pierry, considering the decision “unusual” as it would interpret the law in such a way that any person could demand a new review to be started even concerning deals which have been previously approved and finalized.

Full story: El Economista
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