The ruling caps fines on companies with historic cartel exposure that are acquired by large companies and increases predictability of future antitrust exposure stemming from pre-acquisition conduct.

On 4 September 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled in YKK and Others v Commission1 that where a company engaged in a cartel is subsequently acquired, the “inherited” liability for fines is capped at 10 percent of the acquired company’s worldwide turnover for the year preceding the fining decision.

The judgment is an important and welcome development for large industrial or financial holding companies acquiring smaller companies with exposure to cartel liability, as it allows a buyer to predict with greater certainty the maximum amount of any fines that may be imposed on the target for pre-acquisition conduct.