Merger Control Enforcement Under The Thresholds – Norway Taking The Lead, Will Other Authorities Follow?

On 11 November, the Norwegian Competition Authority (the "NCA") blocked Schibsted's acquisition of Nettbil. At the time when the NCA ordered the parties to notify, the transaction had already been closed, but that did not stop the NCA. It must be noted that Schibsted did not do anything wrong; Nettbil's turnover was below the threshold triggering a mandatory merger notification.

The timing of the decision is interesting for several reasons. First, the acquisition, or rather the target's turnover, was too small to require a mandatory merger notification but the NCA exceptionally ordered the parties to notify the merger anyway (which the law allows). Second, the blocked merger relates to a digital market, namely the market for advertising platforms for used cars. Third, the reason for ordering the parties to notify the acquisition was that the NCA believed that the concentration constituted a "killer acquisition" whereby the burgeoning competition on the fairly new