Competition law
Case assessment
We provide full-scale case assessment for businesses interested in launching a project that may lead to an investigation by a competition authority or to a court procedure. This is one of the most important parts of any competition procedure: a well-prepared competition case is a big step towards success.
Our services range through a variety of assessments that depend on the case. For example:
- Risk assessment of competition litigation for (potential)
claimants in damages cases - Pre-merger assessment of likely competition issues
- Assessment of (planned) business conduct in the context of competition law
One of our key business objectives is to make it possible for many businesses to consider launching competition law cases. Therefore, we provide our initial case assessment for a low budget. After the initial assessment, your business can decide to pursue the case with Allegro Consulting, another consulting firm, or without a consultant.
Managing legal representation
Are you considering an acquisition? A complaint to the authority? A damages action in front of a national court? Following the initial case assessment, you will be prepared to decide whether it is worth pursuing your competition case at the respective authorities or courts.
Legal representation is most likely necessary in these or in any other competition cases. Therefore, we have built strategic partnerships with numerous law firms around Europe with competition practices. Allegro Consulting is in the best position to recommend the law firm most suitable to represent your business. Our recommendation is not binding: if you choose our recommended law firm, you can take over the communication with them, but Allegro Consulting will be happy to assist if needed.
We have contacts with the best competition lawyers in all European countries!
Economic analysis
Allegro Consulting provides expert economic advice to businesses in their competition law proceedings. Our economists have developed a strong practice in projects related to competition law, assisting many law firms and their clients in antitrust and merger practices with relevant market analyses.
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Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions often require approval from competition authorities. Further, merger clearing processes are increasingly data-intensive and require specialized skills. Allegro Consulting have gained substantial expertise in the field of assembling and analyzing data in the context of mergers and acquisitions in front of the European Commission and national authorities in Europe.
Allegro Consulting can assist firms in their merger procedure so that the merger will result in a fairer outcome in the relevant markets. We also provide our services to third-party firms (external to the merger), analyzing whether a merger of their competitors is anti-competitive.
Therefore, merging parties and third-party competitors of merging parties can also reach out to us.
Our expertise includes:
- assessing the position of the businesses on the relevant product and geographic markets;
- identifying factors that weaken or strengthen competitive pressure on the merging firms;
- recognizing potential market entrants; and
- identifying remedies accepted by competition authorities.
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Cartel investigations
Allegro Consulting provides expert advice for businesses in cartel investigations identified as victims of the cartel. We see a general reduction in the number of cartel cases pursued by competition authorities. However, cartels are still with us, even if many of them may remain unnoticed. Allegro Consulting can help if you suspect cartel behavior by your suppliers (supplier cartel) or customers (buyer cartel).
Our expertise includes:
- strong and well-founded complaints to the relevant competition authority, if a cartel is suspected;
- submissions to the competition authority during a cartel investigation (submission of non-cartelists as well); and
- market analysis that will reveal the (potential) presence of a cartel.
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Abuse of dominance
Abuse of dominance cases are built around an anti-competitive conduct by one or more large businesses and may involve one or more of the following:
- predatory pricing – dominant firms “drive out” competitors by applying below cost pricing;
- price discrimination – dominant firms apply different prices for different customers anti-competitively;
- exclusive dealing – large wholesalers serve only selected retailers;
- exclusion due to vertical integration – large wholesalers unlawfully provide competitive advantages to their own retail division or unlawfully put retailer competitors in a disadvantageous position;
- creating barriers to market entry – by unlawfully making potential market entry unprofitable or making competitors believe that their entry would be unprofitable; and
- leveraging dominant positions on adjacent markets – typically on markets where the purchase of one product is linked to the purchase of another product.
Should your business be subjected to abuse as the victim of any of the above conduct or other potentially abusive business practices, Allegro Consulting can help.
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Private litigation
If you are a customer or a supplier of a (i) firm involved with a cartel or (ii) a firm that is active in a market in which a cartel is involved, you are entitled to repayment of your financial losses by filing damages claims in national courts. You are also entitled to sue for financial damages, if you did not purchase from the market where the cartel happened, but your supplier did (indirect damages). This applies to final consumers as well.
Similarly, if you are a competitor or customer of a large firm that abused its dominant position to your detriment, damages claims can also be filed. Indirect and consumer damages can also be pursued in cases of abuse of dominance.
By now, all EU member states have implemented the new EU Directive on antitrust damages actions in their respective national legal systems. The regulations ensure that all private businesses and consumers have the appropriate means to claim compensation for losses caused by anti-competitive actions. Direct, indirect and final customers can recover compensation.
Allegro Consulting offers economic advice to claimants in antitrust litigation cases. We take on cases related to both cartel behaviour and to abuse of dominance. We liaise with your business representatives in the process of gathering the relevant data and apply modern statistical and econometric tools to determine antitrust damages.
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Competition and sustainability
As fairness and sustainability are strongly intertwined concepts, Allegro Consulting also provide expert advice in the assessment of a business’ activities related to long-term sustainability in the framework of competition law and economics. Environmental and sustainability considerations are increasingly more important in cartel and non-cartel (merger) cases and in various market investigations initiated by competition authorities.
Competition authorities in Europe are progressively considering whether the outcome of certain business decisions leads to a more sustainable market. The objective of the EU Green Deal is to transform the European economies into modern, resource-efficient, and competitive markets. The EU’s goal is to become completely climate-neutral by 2050. The European Commission and national authorities are actively seeking solutions to adapt to this new situation by applying current EU competition rules and adopting new policies to achieve the objectives of the Green Deal.
Allegro Consulting positions itself in the forefront of developing the tools to address questions related to sustainability and the impact of market conduct on the environment. If your business is considering bringing forward sustainability-related arguments in a competition procedure, Allegro Consulting can help identify them, measure the expected impact, and propose solutions to the competition problems identified by the authority.
We carry out sustainability-related analyses, but only if we see genuine sustainability efforts. Depending on the market situation, we also help third-party firms prove that an agreement between their competitors is not necessary for reaching sustainability objectives. For example, there are non-genuine elements of a (proposed) sustainability agreement, like greenwashing or the agreement is not indispensable.
