Heineken ordered to pay €111 million in damages, interest to Greek rival

By Reuters News

AMSTERDAM, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Dutch beer company Heineken HEIN.AS on Wednesday said a Dutch court had awarded Macedonian Thrace Brewery €111 million ($125 million) in damages and interest in a case it brought against Heineken's Greek subsidiary Athenian Brewery.

Heineken said it disagreed with the reasoning of the court and would appeal the decision, which related to conduct by Athenian Brewery in the Greek beer market between 1998 and 2014.

In 2015, the Greek competition watchdog had already fined Athenian Brewery €31.5 million for abuse of its dominant position in the production and distribution of beer.

In a follow-up case, the Dutch court now awarded MTB €43 million in damages and €68 million in accrued interest.

Heineken said that the damages claim made by MTB had not been realistic, and said the court had made assumptions about MTB's sales, pricing and profitability in a hypothetical scenario.

"Those assumptions should be carefully tested against the available economic evidence and market developments during the relevant period," the brewer said.

"We do not believe the damages awarded adequately reflect those considerations."


($1 = 0.8910 euros)

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