Dutch court orders Heineken to pay 111 million euros to Greek rival
Key Facts
Heineken said a Dutch court awarded its Greek rival Macedonian Thrace Brewery about 111 million euros in damages and interest in an October 2026 ruling over practices in the Greek beer market. According to a statement from the claimant, the Amsterdam District Court ordered parent company Heineken and its Greek subsidiary Athenian Brewery to pay. The dispute concerns the subsidiary's abuse of its dominant market position and the harm its practices caused its rival. The conduct covered by the ruling spanned 1998 to 2014, Reuters reported, citing Heineken. The Greek rival filed its damages claim in Amsterdam in 2017, according to its statement.
The announced amount comprises approximately 43 million euros in damages and 68 million euros in accrued interest, according to Reuters. Interest thus exceeds the underlying damages assessed by the court for the rival in the years-long dispute. The Hellenic Competition Commission previously imposed an original fine of about 31.5 million euros on Athenian Brewery for abusing its dominant position. The current ruling awards the rival compensation for harm, along with the associated accrued interest. The damages awarded, even before interest, exceed the original regulatory fine imposed on Heineken's subsidiary.
As background to the case, Reuters reported, citing the Hellenic Competition Commission, that Athenian Brewery imposed restrictions in the wholesale trade. Those practices formed part of policies that excluded competitors from the market for beer consumed on premises, according to the commission. The regulatory decision went beyond the financial penalty imposed on the company for abusing its dominant position. It also required the company to introduce new written contracts to prevent a repeat of the infringement, Reuters reported, citing the decision. The damages claim heard by the Amsterdam court concerns competition in the same Greek market, where the claimant operates after being founded in the city of Komotini in 1996, according to its statement.
The litigation also addressed the parent company's liability for harm caused by its subsidiary's practices in Greece. The claimant said the Amsterdam court ruled in October 2024 that Heineken and Athenian Brewery constituted a single economic unit. On that basis, the court held them jointly and severally liable for the harm, according to the rival's statement. The dispute also involved a challenge by Heineken to the jurisdiction of Dutch courts over claims concerning the subsidiary. In a separate statement issued through Business Wire, the claimant said the Dutch Supreme Court rejected that jurisdictional challenge, a legal milestone that preceded the current damages and interest award.
In its response to the financial award, Heineken challenged the court's reasoning, Reuters reported, citing the company. Its objection centres on the assumptions used to assess the harm suffered by its Greek rival in the case. The company specifically disputes assumptions about "pricing and profitability" in the hypothetical scenario the court used to calculate damages. This aspect of the dispute concerns the assessment of the conditions under which the rival would have operated when calculating the harm caused by the practices at issue. Heineken maintains its objections to those assumptions underpinning the court's assessment of compensation due to the claimant, according to Reuters.
The consequences of the Greek fine also appear in Heineken group's earlier financial disclosures through related damages claims. Heineken Holding's annual report disclosed a damages claim linked to the fine seeking 303 million euros. The report included the claim in its disclosure of contingent liabilities arising from the regulatory case in Greece. It also said another damages claim arising from the same fine had been removed from that disclosure after a provision was recognised for it. The report described the provision as "immaterial", in its accounting treatment of another claim linked to the infringement penalised by the Hellenic Competition Commission.
Heineken plans to appeal the current ruling, according to the company's response reported by Reuters. The appeal will take its objections to the court's reasoning and assumptions for assessing harm to the next stage of litigation. The announcement of its intention to appeal comes shortly before the date listed in Heineken Holding's financial calendar for its next trading update. The calendar sets 28 October 2026 as the date for the third-quarter trading update. The company's preparations to challenge the ruling thus coincide with its approaching regular disclosure on business activity during that quarter.