The Ankara 9th Administrative Court orders a stay of execution on a port acquisition after the Competition Authority’s conditional clearance with behavioural remedies (Kumport)

Background Limar Liman ve Gemi İşletmeleri A.Ş. (“Limar”), which is controlled by Arkas Holding A.Ş. (“Arkas”) notified to the Turkish Competition Authority (the “Authority”) its acquisition of the sole control over Mardaş Marmara Deniz İşletmeciliği A.Ş. (“Mardaş” or the “Target”) operating the Ambarlı Port on February 14, 2017 (“Transaction”). Prior to the transaction, Mardaş had been jointly controlled by Atak Holding A.Ş. (“Atak”) and Asmar Holding A.Ş. (“Asmar”). In its initial assessment, the Turkish Competition Board (the “Board”) had competitive concerns related to both (i) horizontal effects, in particular potential collective dominance of MSC and Arkas in container handling, and (ii) vertical effects, as the transaction could potentially lead to input foreclosure in the