Salomé Santos and Peter Turner-KerrFreshfields Bruckhaus DeringerMadridGas Natural’s hostile bid for Endesa is Spain’s largest-ever takeover, and the bid is growing more hostile by the day

Yell, UK's largest telephone directory company, is buying Spanish rival TPI for €3.3 billion.

The European Commission has cleared Eon's €29.1 billion bid for Endesa, Spain's largest electricity company.

Linklaters has poached competition partner Jaime Pérez-Bustamante from Martinez Lage & Asociados to lead its competition team in Madrid.

Gas Natural's bid for Endesa has been trumped by a €29.1 billion offer from Germany's E.ON.

For the first time, a Spanish civil court has awarded a company compensation for damage suffered through anti-competitive behaviour. Francisco Cantos and Salome Santos Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Madrid

Spain’s Competition Tribunal has said that Telefonica’s takeover of broadband provider Iberbanda should be blocked.

Although the TDC’s decisions on payment card interchange fees ostensibly rely heavily on the European Commission’s 2002 decision exempting Visa’s scheme for setting interchange fees for crossborder transactions, they contain a number of important differences relating, in particular, to the costs that the TDC considers can be taken into account in setting domestic, as opposed to cross-border, interchange fee rates. The differences between the TDC decision and that of the European Commission give rise to issues concerning the consistent application of Article 81 across the EEA and the effect any inconsistencies may have in the context of the modernisation of competition law within Europe.

The Spanish government has announced plans for a radical overhaul of Spain’s competition laws, bringing them more closely into line with the modernised EC rules and streamlining the authorities who oversee competition enforcement in Spain. The abolition of the mechanism for notifying agreements for clearance is intended to allow the competition authorities to focus on those practices most harmful to competition, and the proposed changes in relation to private enforcement of competition laws are designed to encourage the use of private litigation in competition disputes. The government’s proposals are welcome. Nonetheless, it is less than clear at this stage how the government intends to implement many of its ideas.

Spain is about to embark on yet more competition reform. But, as PHILIPPA WARD discovered, in Spanish competition things depend far more on who is in charge than what the law says

PHILIPPA WARD talks to the director general of Servicio de Defensa de la Competencia, about proposed changes to Spain's competition policy

Spanish law firms are still the class of the field for competition work in Spain. But they are being pressed more by international firms. PHILIPPA WARD breaks down the key practices and asks, what does the future hold?

Lovells has added to its European scope by recruiting local competition specialists within Italy and Spain. Senior associate Veronica Pinotti will work from Milan, while Natalia Lacalle will work from Madrid, also as a senior associate. Each is to lead competition lawyers in their office

Several existing Spanish legislative measures intended to protect national interests appear to infringe EU law. If they are exercised in the context of a merger or acquisition in such a way as to frustrate the proper application of the EU Merger Regulation, then the Commission may take action against Spain, either under the Merger Regulation itself, or under the more general Treaty rules requiring Member States to cooperate in enforcing Community law. In the meantime, however, any acquiring or merging parties affected by such measures may in practice find themselves in a difficult situation vis-à-vis the Spanish national or regional authorities until the dispute is resolved. Álvaro Iza Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Madrid

The Telefónica case is important since it contains a clear statement from the TDC on its exclusive jurisdiction to apply the Spanish Competition Act, to the exclusion of other regulatory authorities such as the CMT. Also, by imposing such a heavy fine, the TDC shows its firm determination to combat abusive behaviour taking place in regulated sectors. It is also interesting to note that the activities which were sanctioned are not 'traditional' competition infringements but rather forms of advertising and promotional techniques.Salomé Santos Lorenzo Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Madrid