A key competition law development in Barbados in 2020: In May 2020, the Barbados Fair Trading Commission (hereafter “Commission”) considered an application for the Proposed Acquisition of Seawell Air Services Limited (SAS) by GCG Ground Services (Barbados) Limited (GCG). Briefly, SAS is a ground handling company that provides passenger, ramp and cargo services to major airlines at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) in Barbados. GCG is a subsidiary of GCG Ground Services (St. Lucia) Limited and was established in 2019 to take over the operations of SAS subsequent to the latter exiting the industry in October 2019. The nature of the transaction was the acquisition of all of the assets of SAS by GCG, which qualified as a merger under the Fair Competition Act. The Commission held the view that the proposed acquisition is specific to the supply of ground handling services, park-and-fly services, and automotive care services markets at the GAIA in Barbados. Since SAS is the lone operator in the market for park-and-fly services, its 100% market share qualified the transaction for review by the Commission. Pursuant to an assessment of the transaction, the Commission concluded that the proposed transaction was not expected to result in any marked change in the market (inclusive of market share), or the players therein, and was unlikely to cause anticompetitive effects in any of the relevant markets.

A place to visit in Barbados after the pandemic: Animal Flower Cave, located at North Point, Conneltown, Saint Lucy.

Dr. Troy Waterman, PMP, is Acting Director at the Barbados Fair Trading Commission.