The Competition and Market Authority has authorized with conditions the acquisition by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (which primarily publishes the daily la Repubblica and the weekly l'Espresso) of Italiana Editrice, the company that owns the newspapers La Stampa of Turin and Il Secolo XIX of Genoa. In particular, the Authority required the acquiring company to transfer local advertising sales on the local pages of the Genoa and Turin editions of the newspaper La Repubblica to an independent third party.
The Authority, in exercising the powers attributed to it by the law of 10 October 1990, n. 287, evaluated the evidence relating to the overall functioning of the markets involved in the merger transaction, arriving at the conclusion that the same would have led to the establishment of a monopoly or a near monopoly in local advertising sales markets in newspapers in the provinces of Genoa and Turin; this would have led to a strengthening of the dominant position that Italiana Editrice already holds in the aforementioned markets with a substantial and lasting prejudice to the competitive dynamics.
In its assessments, the Authority has taken into consideration, in addition to the market shares, the presence of alternative operators to Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso and Italiana Editrice, their characteristics, the market power held by local advertisers, the trend in the prices charged by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso and Italiana Editrice for advertisements, the competitive pressure exercised by means of communication alternative to newspapers as well as the possibility that new operators to enter the local markets for local advertising sales in newspapers in the provinces of Genoa and Turin.
The corrective measures required for the purpose of the authorization of the concentration were identified on the basis of a specific proposal by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso taking into account their ability to affect the competitive issues identified, the characteristics of the operators indicated as concessionaires of local advertising sales on the local pages of the Genoa and Turin editions of the newspaper La Repubblica as well as the specific contractual clauses which will regulate the relationship between said parties and Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso.
With reference to the other markets of newspaper and magazine publishing, the distribution of publishing products and advertising revenues affected by the merger the Authority had already assessed in the provision to initiate the investigation that the merger between Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso and Italiana Editrice was not suitable to establish or strengthen a dominant position so as to substantially and permanently eliminate or reduce competition.
With specific reference to the daily press market with general information content, the Authority, competent to evaluate the effects on competitive dynamics and not also those on information pluralism, it carried out an extensive investigation which involved market shares (calculated on the basis of sales achieved and not of circulations), the presence of significant competitors and their industrial characteristics and gave the main Italian publishers the opportunity to express their evaluations on the merger operation.
