Vacation's over? Looking back on the Pierre et Vacances/Maeva Transaction

Patrice Bougette (1)

1 GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion

This paper provides a retrospective study of the 2001 merger between the two largest French holiday companies Pierre et Vacances and Maeva. First, simulations with exclusive data from the merger file indicate that the Competition Authority made the right decision to condition its approval to a structural merger remedy. The model forecasts significant price increases for tourist residences in the short run. The second part of the analysis consists of confronting the forecast with the actual evolution of prices during the three years after the merger. Despite the required asset divestitures, we find evidence that positive price variations occurred from 2001-2002. However, in the very long term, competitive pressure has been intensified by the entry of real-estate promoters and by the increasing use of the Internet as a new distribution channel.

Mots clés: Merger Control; Ex-post Study; Divestitures; Merger Remedies

Domaines: Economies et finances

Patrice Bougette. Vacation's over? Looking back on the Pierre et Vacances/Maeva Transaction. Journées AFSE "Law and Economics", Jun 2011, Besançon, France. ⟨halshs-00613190⟩