Significant events for the 2018 financial year

Corporate

Order A/513 - Antitrust Authority Fine against Acea, Acea Energia and areti

On 8 January 2019 the AGCM antitrust authority notified the Company of the final Order of Procedure A/513. In this order, the Authority ruled that Acea S.p.A., Acea Energia S.p.A. and areti S.p.A. had committed an abuse of a dominant position – qualified as very serious and of duration quantified in 3 years and 9 months – consisting in the adoption of a broad exclusionary strategy realised through the illegitimate use of a series of prerogatives possessed solely by virtue of its position as an integrated operator in distribution, in order to compete with its competitors in the acquisition of electricity sales contracts in free market conditions.

In view of the gravity and duration of the infringement, the Authority ordered Acea S.p.A., Acea Energia S.p.A. and areti S.p.A. to pay an overall pecuniary administrative fine of € 16.2 million.

Because of this solidarity and in consideration of the fact that the preliminary investigations made it possible to ascertain that the disputed conduct fell within the more general context of the strategic plan defined and controlled at the Parent Company level, and, nevertheless, the two commercial companies involved carry out their activities under the direction and coordination of Acea S.p.A., and, finally, since the Authority did not define the amount of the fine for each individual entity, the entire amount was recorded in the financial statements of the Parent Company Acea which simultaneously relieved the subsidiaries areti S.p.A. and Acea Energia S.p.A., waiving any challenges or claims against the aforementioned subsidiaries.

The Company is considering filing an appeal with the regional administrative court against the aforementioned fine, and, at the same time, is assessing the measures to be implemented in compliance with the provisions of the AGCM.