Final verdict from Norwegian Supreme Court favours Schibsted in Nettbil deal

On 17 February 2023, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled in favour of Schibsted in the Finn/Nettbil merger case, thereby confirming the judgment by the Gulating Court of Appeal from 2022 and overturning the previous merger prohibition decision by the Norwegian Competition Authority.

The final verdict from the Norwegian Supreme Court follows a lengthy process that started with the acquisition of Nettbil, an online used car auction platform, by online classified advertising platform Finn (owned by Schibsted).

In November 2020, the Norwegian Competition Authority (“NCA”) ordered the merger to be unwound and the NCA’s decision was upheld by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”). Schibsted appealed the CAT’s decision before the Gulating Court of Appeal. The Compass Lexecon team provided economic advice to Schibsted during the appeal process, including submitting an economic report and providing expert testimony. The Court ruled unanimously in favour of Schibsted. See further details here.

Subsequently, the Norwegian State appealed the Gulating Court’s judgment to the Supreme Court. Compass Lexecon submitted an extension to its original report that addressed the State’s appeal and their expert’s economic report. The Supreme Court has now handed down the final verdict on the case, thereby lifting the competition authority’s ban on Schibsted’s acquisition of Nettbil.

The Compass Lexecon effort was led by Sergey Khodjamirian. We worked closely with legal teams from Wiersholm (Håkon Størdal, Stephan Jervell, Edvard Hamer Rojahn and Rakel Eilertsen) and Schibsted (Christoffer Nyegaard Mollestad, Elin Moen and Tone Solbakk).