Horizontal Mergers and Acquisitions in Turkey

Horizontal concentrations refer to the mergers and acquisitions between companies operating in the same product markets. The Turkish merger control provisions rely on the significant impediment of effective competition (SIEC) test to ascertain whether a merger may be cleared. The Turkish Competition Board (Board) generally takes the following path in assessing whether a notified transaction significantly impedes effective competition in a market:

• Market Power: The Board first looks into whether the notified transaction may lead to the creation or strengthening of an existing dominant position in any of the affected markets. In doing so, the Board takes into consideration factors such as the market shares and concentration levels, countervailing buyer power, and barriers to entry in the market.
• Anti-Competitive Effects: Following the assessment of dominance, the Board generally goes into the evaluation of possible anti-competitive effects (unilateral and/or coordinated effects) of the notified transaction.
• Efficiencies: Lastly, the Board takes into consideration the efficiencies stemming from the notified transaction, which may include, among others, consumer welfare and decrease in costs of production. For efficiencies to be considered a countervailing factor, the Board requires that they (i) be a direct result of the transaction and not possible to be achieved through a less anti-competitive alternative way, and (ii) be verifiable to the extent that the Board can be reasonably certain that they are likely to materialise and be substantial enough to countervail the anti-competitive effects.

For more information on horizontal concentrations in Turkey, please feel free to reach out to ELIG Gurkaynak at +90 212 327 1724 or through gonenc.gurkaynak@elig.com.