Compass Lexecon's Analysis Leads French Authority to Drop Objections Against Groupe Avis Car Rental

In January 2015, the French competition authority ("AdIC") claimed that some car rental companies had infringed competition law by sharing monthly information relating to (I) revenue, (III) the number of contracts signed, (III) market shares, and (IV) average contract value at twelve airports in France. The Authority was concerned that this information exchange could facilitate collusion.

Compass Lexecon, hired by Groupe Avis, examined the rental companies’ behavior and market outcomes using a range of statistical techniques. We showed that the information exchanged did not provide a reliable basis for coordination, that the rental companies did not appear to use the information as the Authority’s theory predicted, and that information exchanges did not cause changes in market outcomes. This led the Authority to drop its objections in February 2017 (decision 17-D-03).

The Compass Lexecon team, led by David Sevy, included Elena Zoido, Frédéric Palomino, Soledad Pereiras, Guillaume Duquesne, Jaime Coronado, Thibaut De Bernard, and Anastasia Tseomashko.