Macedonian Thrace Brewery: European Court of Justice Rules That Heineken N.V Must Answer for the Market Abuses of Its Greek Subsidiary

• ECJ ruling confirms the Dutch court can deal with the claims brought by MTB against both Athenian Brewery and its parent company Heineken
• In 2015, Heineken’s Greek subsidiary was fined €31.5 million by Greece’s competition regulator after unlawfully pressuring wholesalers and distributors into favouring its brands
• MTB’s follow-on claim, initially filed in 2017, has now overcome all procedural attempts by Heineken to dodge liability for the actions of Athenian Brewery, its Greek subsidiary
• The Dutch court will now decide on the extent of damages Heineken N.V. is liable for, with MTB seeking €180 million+

LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The European Court of Justice (ECJ) this week ruled that damages claims arises from market abuses by Heineken’s Greek subsidiary should be decided in the Netherlands court.

The ruling is a crucial milestone in efforts to make Heineken as a corporation accountable for the actions of its subordinate businesses. It followed closely ECJ Advocate General Kokott’s September 2024 opinion, finding that there is a “close connection” between the claims brought against both Heineken and its 98.8%-owned subsidiary on the basis that they form one and the same undertaking which infringed competition law which is sufficient to establish that the Netherlands is the appropriate jurisdiction to hear these claims.

This week’s decision represents the final setback for Heineken as it seeks to dodge liability in the Netherlands for the actions of Athenian Brewery. In October 2024, the Amsterdam District Court already cleared the way for MTB to seek damages from Heineken, finding that Heineken and its subsidiary formed part of a single undertaking and, as such, are jointly and severally liable for Athenian Brewery’s proven market abuses.

This week’s ECJ ruling confirms that the Dutch Court is able to determine the amount in damages Heineken owes to MTB, in a hearing likely to be held this year. MTB is pursuing damages in excess of €180 million, including interest to date. At current rates, more than €7.8 million in interest is accruing annually.

Heineken also faces similar claims from competitors – most immediately from Carlsberg, which revealed in October 2024 that it is seeking more than €300 million from the beer giant in a near identical damages claim also stemming from Heineken’s market abuses in Greece. In recent years, Heineken has been fined or investigated by competition authorities in Austria, the US, UK, Hungary, India and elsewhere.

Just this week, as Heineken announced its Full Year Results, a hearing began in the Austrian Cartel Court to determine the final sanction its subsidiary Brau Union will face for proven competition violations. The Austrian competition authority (AFCA) found in 2023 that it had committed anti-competitive practices “that restrict the sales opportunities and market entry of competing brewers and oust existing drinks retailers from the market”. Given the scale of Brau Union’s market abuse, the final penalty could be up to 10% of Heineken’s global turnover generated in the preceding business year.

Demetri Chriss, Director of Business Development at MTB, said:

“The ECJ ruling has finally confirmed, at the very highest level, that MTB was right to pursue damages claims in the Netherlands against both Heineken and Athenian Brewery. We find it fitting that the ECJ decision has been handed down 27 years to the day after MTB launched Vergina beer in Greece.

There is no doubt in our minds that Heineken’s elaborate tapestry of market abuses has been masterminded and orchestrated at head office, implemented through its revolving cast of Heineken “lifers” who rotate in and out of their Greek Operating Company.

We look forward this year to obtaining redress for the market abuses that Greece’s competition regulator definitively identified more than a decade ago.”