The Competition Council on Friday held that Ekspress Grupp was under obligation to obtain its permission for the acquisition of Lrytas prior to the implementation of the transaction but failed to do so.
The decision imposed a EUR 140,460 fine on Ekspress Grupp and obligation to remedy the situation.
Mari-Liis Rüütsalu, chairman of the group’s management board, said that Ekspress Grupp does not agree with the positions of the Lithuanian Competition Council and is going to challenge the decision in court.
“The nature of the dispute concerns the interpretation of the geographical allocation of Lrytas turnover before the transaction under Lithuanian law. According to Lithuanian competition rules, transactions that exceed certain turnover limits can only be carried out with the prior permission of the Lithuanian Competition Council. We and our legal advisers from the law firm Ellex are of the opinion that the Lithuanian turnover of the companies before acquiring the portal was below the EUR 20 million limit that required consent and the prior consent of the competition authority was not required. In our view, our position is compliant with European competition rules,” Rüütsalu said.
“Tax authorities in various European countries also classify the generation of turnover according to a similar geographical principle to us. However, the competing Lithuanian news portal 15min, owned by Postimees Grupp, filed a complaint against the transaction, on the basis of which the agency carried out a supervisory procedure,” she added.
The group wants the court to make a legal assessment of the matter so that it could act accordingly, according to the board chairman.
“If the decision of Competition Council will not be suspended by a court for the period of legal dispute, Ekspress Grupp will have to go through a merger control procedure. According to the law, Ekspress Grupp will also be required to pay the amount of the fine imposed for the duration of the litigation, despite its disagreement with the findings of the authority,” Rüütsalu said.
At the end of 2022, AS Ekspress Grupp and the publisher of the largest Lithuanian newspaper UAB Lietuvos rytas signed an agreement to acquire 100% shares of UAB Lrytas, a subsidiary that publishes the online news portal lrytas.lt. Founded in 2006, lrytas.lt is a Lithuanian news portal that delivers news in Lithuanian and English languages.
AS Ekspress Grupp is the leading Baltic media group whose key activities include web media content production, and publishing of newspapers, magazines and books. The group also operates an electronic ticket sales platform and ticket sales offices and offers outdoor screen service in Estonia and Latvia. Ekspress Grupp launched its operations in 1989 and employs almost 1,100 people.
ELTA news agency is a subsidiary of Delfi, owned by Ekspress Grupp.