INTEGRITES Antitrust and Competition team protected interests of Gals Agro Group, one of the leading producers of sugar in Ukraine, in the investigation regarding competition on the sugar beet processing market. The investigation was initiated by the regional department of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine in the Chernihiv region.
Antitrust and Competition team succeeded to provide well-grounded arguments to persuade the regulator that the sugar beet processing market in Ukraine could not be measured solely by the administrative principle and narrowed down to only one region of the country. To prove this, INTEGRITES lawyers provided economic analysis data and outline of the market structure, as well as arguments to demonstrate that the sugar-producing facility of the client had been facing increasing competition.
Additionally, the team developed a sustainable pricing policy for the production facility of Gals Agro Group in order to enable the client to even out its competitive position and increase production based on fair trade principles.
As a result, the regulator accepted the arguments and acknowledged the structure of the market developed and presented by INTEGRITES. The regulator has closed the investigation without deciding on the subject of the case, pointing out that Gals Agro Group production facility “does not abuse a dominant position in the relevant market”.
Successful completion of the project enabled Gals Agro Group to continue business operations and ensured conditions for fair competition on the regional market.
Led by partner and Head of Antitrust and Competition at INTEGRITES Serhiy Shershun, the team working on the project included associates Anna Garbar, Mykola Boichuk, and Andrii Lasikov.
*Gals Agro Group is a leading Ukrainian agro holding operating a 40,000 ha land bank and more than 10 production facilities (sugar, poultry, grains).
** INTEGRITES is a full-service law firm with the offices in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia, and representative offices in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. Alongside the countries of presence, INTEGRITES makes its legal expertise available to clients from other jurisdictions through three foreign desks – teams of qualified lawyers with unique German-, French- and Turkish-speaking competence. The firm also closely cooperates with a well-established partner network of over 100 international law firms. INTEGRITES is highly recommended for its cross-border work and projects in energy, in particular, renewable.
