The judgment of the Court of First Instance (CFI) of the European Communities delivered on 11 July, 2007, merits close examination on the grounds that the court does not usually condemn the European Commission (EC) to pay such high damages, and that merger control in the European Union (EU) has always been characterised by a broad margin of discretion on the side of the EC. It is, therefore, not surprising that most of the arguments presented by Schneider have been rejected.
But let us start at the beginning: on 16 February, 2001, Schneider Electric notified the EC of its intention to acquire Legrand by way of an exchange of stock. In August, 2001, Schneider bought 98% of Legrand’s shares. On 10 October, 2001, the EC blocked the concentration and, on 30 January, 2002, gave Schneider nine months to divest its Legrand shares. This deadline was later extended until 5 February, 2003. On 26 July, 2002, Schneider concluded an agreement to sell Legrand to Wendel/KKR, which had to be consummated by 10 December, 2002. On 22 October, 2002, however, Schneider won the appeal to the CFI, which it had undertaken against the EC’s two decisions.
