Ryanair says OFT cannot probe Aer Lingus stake
10.03.11
Ryanair told a UK court that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) waited too long to start a probe of its stake in Irish competitor Aer Lingus Group. The antitrust regulator behaved ‘erratically’ and without transparency by deciding to investigate Ryanair’s almost 30 percent holding in its rival four years after the share purchase was completed, the airline’s lawyer said at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London.
After buying the stake in 2006, Ryanair twice mounted a bid for the rest of Aer Lingus. The European Commission prohibited the proposed takeover - a decision Ryanair failed to overturn in an appeal to European Court. The OFT said it waited until the dispute was resolved at the EU level before starting its own investigation.
The regulator started its investigation last October, saying it must examine if Ryanair’s stake in Aer Lingus gives it ‘material influence’ over a competitor’s commercial policy in a way that could lessen competition and raise prices for customers. However, Ryanair's lawyer said the regulator ‘lost jurisdiction and it cannot resurrect it’ because of the delay between the share purchase and investigation.
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