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MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s antitrust authority said on Monday it had opened an investigation into the acquisition of 49% of Italian ferry company Moby by MSC’s Shipping Agencies Services (SAS) for allegedly restricting competition.
The deal may have affected routes, for both goods and passengers, between Italy and its larger islands where only Moby and SAS’ Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV), or at most a third group, operate, the regulator said in a statement.
It said the market was “highly concentrated” and already characterised by significant barriers to entry.
Moby runs ferries linking Italy’s mainland to such tourist islands as Sardinia and Corsica.
The watchdog is also looking into a 243-million-euro ($256 million) financing granted by SAS to Moby in 2023.
Last week the authority, assisted by the Italian tax police, carried out inspections at the offices of the companies involved in the investigation.
GNV said in a statement that it provided maximum cooperation during the inspections. SAS was not immediately available for a comment.
Moby, majority-owned by Onorato Armatori group – did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro, editing by Giulia Segreti and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)