The Board of Directors (BD) of the Competition Superintendence (CS) declared the acquisition authorization request between CLARO and DIGICEL inadmissible, since neither of the companies completely filed the information requested by the CS.
1. Press Release C. 12-11
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El Salvador, May 25 , 2011.
CS Declared Claro-Digicel Acquisition Request Inadmissible
-Digicel
The Board of Directors (BD) of the Competition Superintendence (CS) declared the acquisition
authorization request between CLARO and DIGICEL inadmissible, since neither of the companies
completely filed the information requested by the CS.
“A merger or Said inadmissibility does mean the operation has been denied; just that
acquisition request the economic agents involved must initiate a new authorization process.
initiate
cannot be admitted for
analysis if the The company América Movil, owner of the CLARO trademark, filed a request
information provided for the purchase of all of DIGICEL´s shares. Pursuant to the analysis carried
to the CS is out by the CS, the competition authority determined that important information
incomplete. was missing and requested the companies to file it.
Notwithstanding the
aforementioned, since Nevertheless, the companies did not file all the requested information
according to the Salvadoran Competition Law, its regulations, and other
“inadmissible” does applicable legislation. Ergo, the CS declared the request inadmissible.
not mean “denial”,
CLARO and DIGICEL Necessary is to point out that the aforementioned inadmissibility does not
aforementioned
may file a new request inhibit the petitioners to file in the future a request which complies with the
complying with all the requirements set out by the Competition Law and its regulations.
legal requirements”,
asserted Francisco In El Salvador, the economic agents must request authorization from the CS
Diaz Rodriguez, before carrying out a merger or acquisition, in order to determine if such
Competition operation will not provoke a significant limitation on competition. The CS is
Superintendent. legally empowered to authorize, condition, or deny a merger or acquisition
before said operation is executed.
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Background
Date Stages of the analysis of the acquisition request
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April 1 , 2011 Claro filed the acquisition request for the purchase of all of Digicel´s shares.
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April 14 , 2011 CS requested complementary information for the acquisition analysis due to the fact
that the information filed by CLARO and DIGICEL was incomplete.
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May 11 , 2011 The petitioners presented a writ with the information with which the economic agents
pretended to comply with the request.
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May 24 , 2011 After reviewing the newly filed information, the CS declared the request inadmissible.
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E-mail: contacto@sc.gob.sv - www.sc.gob.sv