The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the following Acquisition:
- Acquisition of equity securities amounting to up to 10% of the total paid up share capital and voting rights of the YES Bank Limited by Verventa Holdings Limited.
- Acquisition of up to 10% of the total paid up share capital and voting rights of the YES Bank by CA Basque Investments.Â
- Acquisition of certain businesses of Shubhalakshmi Polyesters Limited(SPL) and Shubhlaxmi Polytex Limited (SPTex) by Reliance Polyester Limited (RPL).
CCI has also imposed a penalty of Rs. 1,337.76 crore on Google for anti-competitive practices in relation to Android mobile devices.
CCI approved the Acquisition of 10% stake of YES Bank by CA Basque Investments:
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved acquisition of up to 10 percent stake of the total paid up share capital and voting rights of the YES Bank Limited by CA Basque Investments, by way of subscription to equity shares and warrants under Section 31(1) of the Competition Act, 2002.
- The CA Basque Investments does not have any business activities in India.
Key highlights:
i.CA Basque Investments, an investment holding entity is a newly formed special purpose vehicle (SPV), incorporated in the Republic of Mauritius and is fully owned by CA Marans Investments, which is controlled by the funds managed by the affiliates of The Carlyle Group Inc.
ii.The Carlyle Group Inc., is a global investment firm, which manages funds that invest globally across 3 investment disciplines including global private equity; global credit and global investment solutions.
CCI Approved the acquisition of 10% stake of YES Bank by Verventa Holdings
The CCI has approved acquisition of equity securities amounting up to 10 percent of the total paid up share capital and voting rights of the YES Bank by Verventa Holdings Limited, an affiliate of Advent International.
- Verventa Holdings Limited is an investment holding company and it currently does not have any operations in India.
CCI Approves Acquisition of certain businesses of SPL & SPTex by RPL:
The CCI approved acquisition of certain businesses of Shubhalakshmi Polyesters Limited (SPL) and Shubhlaxmi Polytex Limited (SPTex) by Reliance Polyester Limited (RPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) pertaining to the concern on the manufacture of polyester products / yarn.
- RPL has acquired SPL for a cash consideration of Rs 1,522 crore and SPTex for Rs 70 crore, aggregating to Rs 1,592 crore in total.
- Currently, Reliance Polyester Limited (RPL) is not engaged in any business activity.
Highlights:
i.After the acquisition, RPL will primarily engage in the production and supply of certain petrochemical products such as polyester staple fibre (PSF), polyethylene terephthalate chips (Chips) and different types of polyester yarns.
ii.SPL is currently engaged in the production and supply of polyester products including PSF, partially oriented yarn (POY), drawn textured yarn / polyester textured yarn (DTY or PTY), fully drawn yarn (FDY) and Chips.
- It also exports polyester products to around 35 countries including the United States of America (USA), Canada, Australia, Ethiopia, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Korea, Vietnam and Russia.
iii.SPTex is engaged in the production and supply of DTY in India and it also exports DTY to other countries including to the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Ethiopia, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Korea, Vietnam and Russia.
CCI Imposes Monetary Penalty of Rs. 1337.76 crore on Google
The CCI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 1,337.76 crore on Google for its anti-competitive practices in relation to Android mobile devices ecosystem and violating Section 4 of the Competition Act.
- The CCI has also issued cease and desist orders against Google and directed it to modify its conduct within a defined timeline.
- CCI has been given 30 days for Google to provide the requisite financial details and supporting documents.
About Google:
i.Google’s Android is the dominant operating system (OS) for smartphones in India and globally and its only competition is Apple’s iOS.
ii.Google holds dominant position in 5 markets including, the market for licensable OS for smart mobile devices, app store for Android smart mobile OS, market for general web search services, market for non-OS specific mobile web browsers and market for online video hosting platform (OVHP).
iii.The CCI has pointed out Google’s mandatory pre-installation of entire Google Mobile Suite (GMS) under mobile application and distribution agreement (MADA), with no option to uninstall it as an abuse of dominant position under Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Competition Act.
About Mobile Operating System (OS):
i.Smart mobile devices need an OS to run applications (apps) and programs and Android is one such mobile OS which was acquired by Google in 2005.
ii.Google operates and manages the Android OS and licences its other proprietary applications and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) use this OS, including other Google apps in their smart mobile devices.
Agreements by Google:
Google enters into multiple agreements for pre-installing Android apps including Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA), for prominent search entry points; Anti-fragmentation Agreement (AFA), for competing search services; Android Compatibility Commitment Agreement (ACC), and Revenue Sharing Agreement (RSA), to secure exclusivity for its search services to the total exclusion of competitors.
