NORWAY Trends and Developments Contributed by: Beret Sundet, Elin Moen, Olav Kolstad and Harald K. Selte, BAHR
BAHR Tjuvholmen allé 16 NO-0252 Oslo Norway Tel: +47 21 00 00 50 Email: post@bahr.no Web: www.bahr.com
The Norwegian Competition Authority (NCA) is a strict enforcer in merger cases. Of the cases notified over the last five years (2021–2025), the NCA has inter - vened in a total of nine cases; three prohibitions and six conditional clearances. In addition, two cases were withdrawn during Phase II and one case is still ongo - ing in Phase II. The following provides an overview of recent devel - opments in the NCA’s merger control practice and developments, as well as an update on FDI screening in Norway. Merger Control in Norway Record high volume in 2025 – a slower start to 2026 The NCA received a total of 189 merger notifications in 2025. This is a record high volume, up almost 25% from the preceding year. The start of 2026 has, how - ever, been slower. By the end of the first quarter, the NCA had only received 28 notifications compared to 48 in 2025; ie, a reduction of more than 40%. The NCA has intervened in three cases notified in 2025. • In SLB / ChampionX , involving two global suppliers to the oil and gas industry with significant opera - tions in the Norwegian offshore sector, the NCA accepted commitments primarily aimed at reduc - ing the risk of vertical foreclosure. The remedies were closely aligned with similar remedies accept - ed in the UK, but unlike in the UK, the NCA did not require remedies to address potential horizontal overlaps.
• The Infomedia / Retriever case involved two Scan - dinavian suppliers of media surveillance services. The completed transaction was called in for review in 2024. The NCA found that the parties were close competitors both in terms of the scope of services and access to content, and required the parties to divest Infomedia’s Norwegian business. Infome - dia’s Norwegian subsidiary, however, went bank - rupt before a sale was completed. • In Karo Healthcare / ACO Hud Nordic , involving two suppliers of skin care products, the NCA required divestment of a product range to reduce the horizontal overlap between the parties. While the transaction was cleared unconditionally in Sweden and Finland, the NCA required divestment of the product range in the entire Nordic region in order to provide the buyer with sufficient scale to incen - tivise future investment in the development of the products. A fourth case notified in 2025, Telenor / Tipo , concern - ing the incumbent telecoms provider Telenor’s acqui - sition of GlobalConnect’s Norwegian B2C broadband services, remains ongoing in the late stages of Phase II. The NCA has consistently held a high Phase I clear - ance rate, with 96% of notified cases cleared in Phase I in 2025. Of the five Phase II cases, three were cleared subject to remedies and one was cleared uncondition - ally, while one remains ongoing at the time of writing. Although Phase II cases take time to resolve, the NCA has a tradition of expedient handling of Phase I cases. Despite the high volume of cases in 2025, the NCA maintained an average Phase I handling time of 13.4
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