UPS Sues EU for $2 Billion Over Blocked Merger

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. delivery giant UPS has launched court action against the European Union’s antitrust regulator for blocking a merger with Dutch firm TNT and is seeking $2.14 billion in compensation.

The EU’s official journal noted Monday that UPS also wants the regulator, the EU’s executive commission, to pay interest and court costs for losses suffered over the January 2013 decision.

The commission decided the planned merger would restrict express deliveries of small packages in Europe by reducing the number of players in the market, and so drive up prices.

But the EU’s general court annulled the commission’s decision last March.

The journal noted that UPS claims the commission decision “is tainted with serious breaches of rules of law that are intended to confer rights on UPS.”