Compass Lexecon advises Delivery Hero in Greek online intermediation platform merger

Compass Lexecon provided economic advice and analysis during merger proceedings before the Hellenic Competition Authority (“HCC”) related to the acquisition by Delivery Hero of certain business lines of the Mouhalis Group. Delivery Hero is active in food ordering and delivery services (operating in Greece through the efood platform), while the Mouhalis Group businesses are active in the food ordering and delivery services (through delivery.gr) and in table reservation services (through e-table).

The HCC had concerns about non-cooperative conglomerate effects in the online food delivery and online table reservation markets arising from the concentration. Compass Lexecon assisted the Parties during Phase II of the merger review process and the transaction was cleared by the HCC with behavioural commitments on 19 April 2022.

Compass Lexecon assessed conglomerate theories of harm, showing that the merged entity would have neither the ability nor the incentive to foreclose its competitors, and conducting, among other qualitative and quantitative analyses, an incentive arithmetic exercise. We also evaluated the boundaries of the relevant product markets affected by the transaction (ready-to-eat food delivery, grocery delivery and table reservation) by analyzing demand and supply-side substitution patterns and assessed the Parties’ closeness of competition. Our analyses demonstrated that the Greek food and grocery delivery markets are very dynamic and characterized by several competitors and out-of-market constraints, that would exert strong competitive pressure on the Parties post-merger in all segments affected by the transaction.

The Compass Lexecon team was led by Jorge Padilla, Justin Coombs and Angelos Stenimachitis, and included Hamid Aghadadashli, Valentina Bianchi Vimercati, Hiranmayee Rajan, Ronak Jain and Anjali Sachdev. The team worked closely with Anastasia Dritsa and Violeta Panagiotopoulou of Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm.