By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -EU antitrust regulators on Tuesday opened an investigation into whether French media conglomerate Vivendi (EPA:VIV) infringed merger rules during its acquisition of French publisher Lagardere with a hefty fine likely for any breach.
The EU competition enforcer has in recent years handed out big fines to deter such offences, which it considers a serious breach of EU merger rules.
The Commission flagged the possibility of an investigation last month following media reports that Vivendi may have jumped the gun before securing its approval for the deal.
The investigation will focus on whether Vivendi breached the notification requirement and standstill obligation as well as the conditions and obligations attached to the European Commission's decision to clear its Lagardere deal.
"We take any breach of these procedures very seriously. At this stage, the Commission has gathered sufficient elements to open a formal investigation to determine whether Vivendi has complied with our procedures," EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
Such so-called gun-jumping can lead to a fine as much as 10% of Vivendi's aggregated turnover. The EU executive gave the green light to the deal last month.
Vivendi said it would cooperate with the investigation.
"However, we believe that we have fully complied with the applicable regulations on concentrations and we are committed to continuing to respect them until the complete execution of the remedies offered to the European Commission for the combination with Lagardère," the company said in a statement.