05/25/2024 – 17:05
The technical area of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) analyzes the partnership contracts announced between Gol and Azul to assess whether the operation will need to be notified to the body, according to the report. Estadão/Broadcast. Advisors were already mentioning the possibility of the organization’s General Superintendence (SG) asking for clarification on the partnership, which occurred on the night of Friday, 24th, when the contracts were sent for analysis.
The airlines announced, on the night of Thursday, the 23rd, a commercial cooperation agreement that aims to connect their airline networks in Brazil through a partnership to share the same flight on exclusive domestic routes.
The arrival of the operation at Cade is not a notification, that is, it is not yet possible to know whether or not the council will need to give prior approval to the partnership. In a statement to the market about the agreement with Gol, Azul did not mention the antitrust body and also predicted that the partnership would be available to customers from the end of June.
Cade’s request for clarification, in turn, generated a type of “pre-notification”. At this stage, the technical area analyzes the contracts and holds conversations with the lawyers of the companies involved to take a position on whether or not notification to the board is necessary. At this stage, it is not assessed whether the operation would be approved or not by Cade. The objective is to understand whether the agreement has potential competition problems.
In Gol and Azul’s announcement, the board’s attention was drawn to the companies’ information that the offer will be available through both companies’ sales channels. The alert also came about when the loyalty program would be shared.
The debate should revolve around whether or not there is risk sharing in the partnership. There is a Cade resolution that exempts the body from involvement in some associative contracts, such as in businesses with less than two years or without risk sharing.
Council members have also pointed out since Friday that, even if it is understood that notification is not mandatory in the case, Cade can determine its involvement if it understands that the operation generates potential risk. The possibility is provided for in the competition law, which allows the body, within a period of one year from the date of consummation, to request the submission of merger acts to the council. This is what happened in October last year, when the court decided that the merger of the companies 123Milhas and Maxmilhas will need to be vetted by Cade, even after the operation has been consummated in December 2022.
Azul and Gol shares rose sharply on the stock exchange after the announcement of a partnership between the companies. The assessment that the operation will bring operational and cost synergy, without the negative points of a possible direct merger – among them, precisely the need for Cade’s approval, helped in the positive reaction.
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