The Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission ('CCPC') recently announced that it has unconditionally cleared the acquisition of BT Datacentres Ireland by Equinix, having opened a Phase II investigation in May of this year.
The two parties are active in the operation of datacentres providing digital infrastructure and network interconnection services. The CCPC investigation focused on the overlap between the parties’ activities in the Dublin metropolitan area.
An unusual feature of the market is that the supply of datacentre services in Dublin is restricted by a de facto moratorium on connecting additional capacity to the state-owned electricity grid operator EirGrid. RBB made submissions on the impact of the power moratorium on the nature of pre-merger competition in datacentre supply, and on the scope for post-merger unilateral effects in both the short and long term. RBB also made submissions on market definition and closeness of competition between the parties.
An RBB team comprising Katie Curry
Katie CurryPartner, Daniel Gore
Daniel GorePartner and Anton Miroshnichenko
Anton MiroshnichenkoAssociate Principal assisted Equinix and its legal advisors Matheson throughout the CCPC’s Phase II investigation.
