Yifat and Bazila will not merge: the companies have withdrawn the appeal against the commissioner’s decision to oppose the merger | Basila is engaged in monitoring and researching content on the Internet, while the veteran Yifat Group owns Vigo, which is quite similar to Basila | However, the competition commissioner announced her opposition to the merger between Yifa and Basila, the companies appealed to the competition court, but yesterday, when the competition commissioner’s answers arrived – they announced the withdrawal of the appeal
Hilik Berkowitz 08.11.2022
Yifat and Bazila informed the Competition Tribunal that they are withdrawing the appeal they filed against the Competition Commissioner’s decision not to approve their merger.
Yifat Media Research, a private company owned by the Beggs family, is part of a group of companies that deals with business information, including monitoring, research and processing media and business information, among them Vigo, which deals with content monitoring and research on the Internet.
Basila is a private company that also deals with content monitoring and research on the Internet.
As you may recall, in November 2021, the commissioner opposed the merger deal between Yifat Vigo and Basila. The competition authority’s inspection revealed, among other things, that if the deal had been implemented, the merged company would have a market share exceeding 50%, both in the market for information monitoring services on the Internet and in the market for research services based on the monitored information. The merger raised a reasonable fear of significant harm to competition, and it was expected to give the merged company the ability to exercise unilateral market power vis-à-vis customers.
Already in 2012, Yifat and Azila submitted a request to merge, but after the supervisor at the time informed them that he intended to oppose the merger between them, they withdrew their request and withdrew the merger notices. The Authority’s inspection revealed that there has been no change that justifies the approval of the merger, and on the contrary, the concerns about the merger have only become more significant over the years.
But Shifat and Bazila opposed the commissioner’s decision, and appealed her decision to the Competition Tribunal. In the appeal, they argued, among other things, that the commissioner made a mistake in defining the relevant markets, that there are no barriers facing a player who wants to operate in the market, and that the merged company will not have the opportunity to exercise market power. In the appeal commissioner’s reply, evidence was presented showing that the allegations in the appeal are false.
After the submission of the Commissioner’s answer to the appeal and before the hearing of the claims, the appellants informed the Competition Tribunal that they are no longer standing the appeal on their behalf, and in accordance with the Commissioner’s decision they will not merge.
Yesterday (7.11.2022) the court accepted the appeals’ request to delete the appeal on their behalf and ordered them to pay expenses for the benefit of the competition commissioner.