Accuracy

Competition dispute

• TSA
• FLA
• VFO
• CRS
• EBA

Situation

• A group entered a highly regulated market which was previously supplied by a state monopoly.
• In order to open this market to competition, the European state in question privatised the traditional operator and put in place complex financial balancing mechanisms in order to ensure fair competition between all participants.
• The new market entrant challenged the neutrality of this new system, considering that the former monopoly continued to benefit from hidden subsidies from the state. Accordingly, a complaint was submitted to the European Commission.

Our role

• Accuracy was chosen by the plaintiff as an expert in support of its case.
• Our role was as follows:
  • To analyse whether the financial terms of the privatisation unfairly favoured the traditional operator or otherwise, and if so to what extent;
  • To verify whether the financial balancing scheme is genuinely neutral;
  • To analyse to what extent competitive positions may have been adversely affected by any advantages or subsidies granted to the traditional operator.

• This work, which was carried out exclusively based on publicly available data was formally recorded in a report which accompanied the analyses performed by our client and his lawyers. This report and its conclusions were also presented to the ad hoc authorities in Brussels.

Outcome

• Our work revealed a significant financial imbalance, favouring the traditional operator.

Value added for our client

• A capacity to deploy a highly experienced team with a wide range of advanced skills (specialists in economics, actuarial services and complex accountancy issues);
• A capacity to identify and use relevant information derived purely from public data sources;
• An ability to process and analyse complex accounting and financial matters, and to explain these in a simple manner;
• Interaction with our client and his lawyers in order to guarantee the overall economic and financial coherence of their case.