By Foo Yun Chee
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) -Booking Holdings on Tuesday criticised an EU antitrust veto over its 1.63-billion-euro ($1.9 billion) ETraveli deal almost two years ago, saying regulators failed to provide clear, compelling evidence to show anti-competitive harm.
The U.S. online travel company said EU regulators ignored precedents and failed to conduct a sound analysis in their 2023 decision, which asserted that Booking’s proposed remedies were insufficient to address concerns over its market power in online hotel reservations.
The EU competition watchdog has increased its scrutiny of tech deals in recent years, citing concerns over “killer acquisitions”, where dominant firms buy smaller rivals to eliminate competition or strengthen their market position.
“The Commission doesn’t have clear and compelling evidence. They really do not have any good evidence. It is speculation,” Booking’s lawyer Daniel Beard told the panel of five judges.
Beard argued the European Commission failed to properly assess the market conditions with and without the merger, saying, “you can’t use buzz words as a substitute for analysis—ecosystems, digital platforms, network effects. You still need to identify the counterfactual correctly, and the Commission did not”.
EU regulators blocked the deal because it would have created a travel ecosystem for Booking, leaving rivals unable to compete, Commission lawyer Mateo Domecq said.
“The entrenchment of Booking’s dominant position stems from the fact that the transaction will make it more difficult for competitors to acquire customers and hotels and to grow,” he said.
Booking, whose brands include Booking.com, Rentalcars, Priceline and Agoda, announced the deal in November 2021.
Swedish rival ETraveli, owned by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, owns Gotogate and Mytrip and also operates airline content distribution services provider TripStack.
The case is T-1139/23 Booking Holdings v Commission.
($1 = 0.8511 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, Editing by Louise Heavens)
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