The Competition Superintendence (CS) in El Salvador received a request from the National Association of Private Enterprise (ANEP) to investigate ALBA PETROLEOS EL SALVADOR for potential violations of merger regulations. The ANEP alleges that ALBA PETROLEOS did not request prior authorization from the CS for mergers and acquisitions exceeding thresholds. The CS Superintendent said the request would be analyzed transparently and independently to determine if a formal investigation is warranted. If the CS finds that ALBA PETROLEOS executed mergers or acquisitions without requesting prior authorization, the company may face fines.

1. “As with all the
actions carried out by
the CS, the request
filed by the ANEP will
transparently and
independently
analyzed”, said
Francisco Diaz
Rodriguez,
Competition
Superintendent.
Press Release C. 01-13
El Salvador, February 4
th
, 2013
CS receives request from ANEP to
investigate ALBA
The Competition Superintendence (CS) received today a request from the National Association of
the Private Enterprise (in Spanish, Asociación Nacional de la Empresa Privada or its acronym
“ANEP”), to investigate ex-officio the entity ALBA PETRÓLEOS EL SALVADOR, alleging infringement
of the Salvadoran Competition Law (CL) for not having previously filed before the CS a merger or
acquisition authorization request.
The ANEP requested the CS to investigate ex.-officio if “ALBA PETRÓLEOS
has asked the competition authority for its prior authorization for mergers and/or
acquisitions where said entity has participated and that exceed the thresholds
pursuant to Article 33 of the CL”.
According to Article 33 of the CL: “Mergers or acquisitions whose combined
total assets exceed fifty thousand minimum urban annual wages in the
industrial sector or whose total income exceeds sixty thousand minimum urban
annual wages in the industrial sector shall request the Superintendence their
prior authorization.
The Competition Superintendent, Francisco Diaz Rodriguez, clarified the writ
received Is not a complaint for the alleged commitment of anticompetitive practices, but a request to gather
information and investigate the activities of Alba Petroleos Group related to mergers and/or acquisitions not
notified to the CS. In this case, the CS will carry on an investigation pursuant to ANEP´s request based on
Article 61 b) of the CL Regulations, in order to determined if the obligation to file a prior merger/acquisition
authorization request has been complied with or not.
Furthermore, the Superintendent added: “As with other requests previously filed, the CS will analyze it in
order to determine if the request has solid proof and if such is the case, then we shall proceed in accordance
to the Law”.
“This will be a good opportunity for the Salvadoran population to see how large the national market is, to get
acquainted with mergers and acquisitions, of the importance of their ex ante analysis in order to prevent any
harm to competition and to prove the limitations of the CL”, asserted.
En case the CS demonstrates that Alba Petroleos has executed a merger or an acquisition without
requesting prior authorization to said authority, this entity would be fined pursuant to Article 38 paragraph 4,
in accordance to a previous due process.

2. About mergers and acquisitions
Since 2006, the CS has analyzed mergers and acquisitions which have taken place in various sectors such
as: telephony, banking, insurance, petroleum, amongst others.
The CS is legally empowered to authorize, condition (impose remedies), or deny a merger or an acquisition
before such operation is executed by the economic agents. This is an EX ANTE analysis carried out in order
to prevent future limitations to competition. A merger or an acquisition may create an environment that
facilitates the commission of anticompetitive practices or the creation of a dominant economic agent in the
market that might abuse of said dominance, jeopardizing consumers.
In the analysis carried out by the CS, elements such as concentration levels, existing rivalry in the markets,
and gains in economic efficiency that result in benefits to the consumer are considered.