Grand Brasil and Bis Distribuição to pay BRL 2 million for gun jumping

On 5 October 2022, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) found the firms Grand Brasil and Bis Distribuição guilty of completing an acquisition without first obtaining CADE’s approval—a practice commonly known as gun jumping.

The transaction involved the transference of a Renault franchise dealership and assets from Grand Brasil to Bis Distribuição.

In 2019, the Office of the Superintendent General of CADE launched an administrative procedure to investigate the acquisition agreement between Grand Brasil and Bis Distribuição.  The agency opened the case after receiving information from Renault on transactions involving dealership transference in the past 10 years.

Upon request from the antitrust agency, Grand Brasil communicated they did not report two transactions to CADE in the past decade.

The Office of the Superintendent General concluded, after the enquiry, that one of the transactions was an acquisition agreement, which fit the criteria for mandatory reporting to the antitrust authority before its completion as per the terms of Law 12529/2011 (the Brazilian Competition Law).

Following the vote of the rapporteur of the case, Commissioner Victor Oliveira, the Tribunal unanimously agreed the firms committed a violation and ratified the Merger Control Agreement. The firms are to make a financial contribution of more than BRL 2 million to the Fund for De Facto Joint Rights (FDD) kept by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP).

Access case no 08700.005459/2019-32.