In 2020, the Portuguese Competition Authority (Autoridade da Concorrência or AdC) began a series of decisions and fines related to alleged “hub-and-spoke” cartels affecting grocery retailing in Portugal. The AdC alleged that the main supermarket retailers (the “spokes”) had cartelised the pricing of products by exchanging information via upstream suppliers (the ”hubs”). In 10 separate sanctioning decisions, the AdC fined the retailers and suppliers over 650 million euro. 

As one of the largest retailers in Portugal, Pingo Doce appealed those decisions and fines. External legal counsel Sérvulo & Associados instructed NERA to support on the economic aspects of the appeals. 

Senior Managing Director Grant Saggers led the NERA team of Director Adrien Cervera-Jackson, Consultant Rafael Sambeat, and Economic Analyst Vivek Madlani in analysing the data and preparing the reports filed in the various appeals. NERA’s work used economic techniques to assess how competition took place in Portugal over time. Our litigation support involved analysing thousands of data points across products including beverages, hygiene products, and food sold in retail stores in Portugal. 

Mr. Saggers also testified as the economic expert in the Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court in Portugal.