Author
Prof Steven Van Uytsel
Organisation/Institution
Kyushu University, Faculty of Law
Country
JAPAN
Panel
Competition Law
Title
Common Ownership in a Competition Law Context in Asia: What’s in the Name?
Abstract
Ever since Jose Azar developed his insights on oligopoly and portfolio diversification in 2011, common ownership has proliferated in the competition law literature. Much of the literature starts from the same understanding of the concept. Common ownership entailed a situation in which institutional investors own shares in two or more competing publicly traded companies. Moreover, the stake of each institutional investor was relatively small, and the aggregate of the minor stakes would not result in a controlling stake. Further research has refined the definition by looking at specific types of shares. The fact that there is an emphasis on the competing relationship of the investees explains why common ownership is often used interchangeably with horizontal shareholding. Asian competition law literature also started to make reference to common ownership (e.g. in Singapore). So have decisions of some Asian enforcement authorities (e.g. in India). The conclusions drawn or the arguments made were parallel to the ones suggested by the original coiner of the consequences on competition by competition ownership. However, a closer look to the concept of common ownership in the literature and the enforcement decisions actually show a different definition. By analyzing the Asian literature and the enforcement decisions, this paper will argue that it is important to fully understand the factual situation underlying a concept in order to avoid confusion in the debate. Confusion on the concepts exists may either lead to wrong conclusions for the original debate, or suggest that competition law should be applied to cases where it should not.
Biography
Steven Van Uytsel is Professor in the Faculty of Law at Kyushu University (Japan). He received his legal education at the University of Antwerp, including a student exchange at Uppsala University. He completed his LL.M. & LL.D. at Kyushu University and his Master of Arts (Japanese Studies) at the Mercator Hogeschool (now Mercator Campus of Ghent Hogeschool). Steven has a strong interest in the development of competition law in Asia. In this regard, he is working on a forthcoming book on Leniency in Asian Competition Law (CUP, 2022). He has also acted as lead editor for the Research Handbook on Asian Competition Law (Edward Elgar, 2020) and The Digital Economy and Competition Law in Asia (Springer, 2021). For his research, Steven has received several grants from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. His most recent grant is on “Re-evaluating Minority Shareholding in Competition Law Against the Background of Horizontal Shareholding by Investors.”
