Investigation launched into Mey İçki

ISTANBUL

Hürriyet Photo

Turkey’s Competition Board opened an investigation yesterday into Diageo’s Turkish spirits group Mey İçki on the grounds that it breached competition principles by preventing the sale of competitors’ products in stores.

The Competition Board announced on its official website that they had launched a preliminary investigation after receiving complaints alleging Mey İçki had violated the law on Protection of Competition by hindering the sales of its competitors’ products in stores, applying exclusivity for its own products and obstructing its competitors’ activities.

The board will carry an investigation to determine if Mey İçki caused exclusivity in stores and abused its dominated status in the market by externalizing its rivals.

Mey İçki said the preliminary investigation opened by the Competition Board did not mean the company violated the competition laws or that it was or would be sentenced, in a statement released to the press yesterday. It stressed that preliminary investigations had been opened before due to rival companies’ claims, but the Competition Board confirmed that Mey İçki’s activities were in line with the laws and competition rules. It will work in cooperation with the board during the investigation in order to get results as soon as possible, it added.

Diageo PLC bought Mey İçki from TPG Capital LP and local private equity group Actera in 2011 for $2.1 billion.