Mediq has been successful in proceedings before the Rotterdam District Court against the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) on an acquisition prohibited by ACM. Diederik Schrijvershof and Leah Peeters represented Mediq in these proceedings. In early 2021, Mediq applied to ACM for a licence for an acquisition. ACM refused that licence on 23 December 2021, thereby prohibiting the acquisition.
ACM believed that Mediq would acquire too strong a position on the market for ambulatory electronic infusion pumps for home care use after the proposed acquisition. Mediq presented valid arguments to challenge that assumption, which ACM did not accept. When ACM blocked the acquisition, Mediq filed court proceedings against it. The Rotterdam District Court ruled on 24 March 2023 that ACM had wrongly refused the licence. ACM has not appealed the court's ruling to the CBb, therefore the judgment of the Rotterdam District Court is legally determined.
The court subscribed to Mediq’s position that ACM had defined the relevant product market incorrectly (too narrowly). It found, among other things, that ACM had insufficiently investigated which types of medication could be administered with which infusion pump. ACM had insufficiently demonstrated that elastomer pumps are not (at least partly) interchangeable with ambulatory electronic infusion pumps. In the court’s opinion, ACM had also failed to demonstrate that stationary infusion pumps are not (at least partly) interchangeable with ambulatory electronic infusion pumps. Since that removed the ground on which ACM had based its competition law analysis of the consequences of the acquisition, it was not necessary to address Mediq’s other grounds for appeal in the court’s opinion.
The court annulled ACM’s prohibition decision on the grounds that it had been poorly and insufficiently substantiated, and did not give ACM the opportunity to remedy the defects. The ruling can be found here. The court’s ruling was also covered in Global Competition Review.
Maverick Advocaten regularly assists healthcare providers in collaborations, mergers and acquisitions: see, for instance, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
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