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FAIR TRADING COMMISSION DETERMINATION OF MERGER APPLICATION: GCG GROUND SERVICES/SEAWELL AIR SERVICES
The Fair Trading Commission has approved GCG Ground Services’ (GCG) acquisition of the assets of Seawell Air Services (SAS), following a comprehensive analysis of the transaction.
The Commission’s review was conducted following receipt of the merger Application in May 2020. The Application sought approval for GCG’s acquisition of all of the assets of SAS, which ceased operations in October 2019. These assets included all goodwill of SAS’ business, all inventory and tools, equipment and real estate. GCG, a division of the GCG Group which is a subsidiary of Goddard Enterprises Limited, provides ground handling services to airlines throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. GCG indicated that the acquisition of SAS, which took the decision to cease its ground handling business in Barbados and Antigua due to underperformance, would therefore enhance its regional presence. The ground handling services offered by SAS included cargo, park-and-fly and automotive care services.
Following its identification of the relevant product market and geographic market (i.e., Barbados), the Commission also executed a competitive analysis which considered the potential impacts of the transaction. Consideration was therefore given to the number and relative size of the firms in the market and the effect of barriers on new firms seeking to enter each market.
Subsequent to this analysis and having established that no competitive concerns would arise due to the merger, the Commission, pursuant to Section 20(5) of the Fair Competition Act, CAP. 326C, determined that the acquisition would not lessen competition in the market for ground handling, park-and-fly and automotive care services in Barbados.
June 28, 2021
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