CADE signs three agreements in gun jumping investigations

On 3 September, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) signed three agreements in administrative procedures to investigate mergers consummated before clearance, practice known as gun jumping.

In the first case involving Mitsui & Co. (“Mitsui”), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (“MOL”), Marine Projects Investment (“MPIC”), and Modec Holdings Netherlands (“MHNL”), CADE analysed the equity interest acquisition of Marlim1 MV33 B.V., responsible for the implementation of the offshore platform vessel Anita Garibaldi in the Marlim field. According to Commissioner Diogo Thomson, rapporteur of the case, the transaction fell under the hypothesis provided in Article 90of Law 12529/2011, and the groups involved in the transaction fulfilled the legal criteria for turnover. However, the transaction was consummated in 2020, before CADE’s clearance, and was notified only in 2024.

In another case, the same companies were investigated for the equity interest acquisition in the Búzios5 MV32 B.V. (“MV32”), responsible for the FPSO Almirante Barroso unity.  The transaction was related to the acquisition of shares from MV32 by Mitsui, MOL, and MPIC, owned by MHNL, making a shareholders’ agreement in 2019 and notified only in March 2024.According to Commissioner Camila Pires Alves, rapporteur of the case, the transaction falls under mandatory notification, since it fulfils the criteria of turnover and the Article 90 of Law 12529/2011. 

The third agreement was signed in a case that investigated the acquisition of assets from Cia. Paraná de Alimentos S.A. (Paraná Supermercados) by Cooperativa Agroindustrial Copagril (Copagril). The case was also reported by Commissioner Camila Pires Alves. The rapporteur stated that the agreement between the companies was consummated in December 2023, but notified only in July 2025 after CADE’s decision recognising the gun jumping and ordering the notification of the transaction.

As a result of the signature of the agreements, the companies are to pay over BRL 1.5 million in financial contributions for the Fund for de Facto Joint Rights.