Heineken loses latest appeal in Greek beer competition battle
The Dutch Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Heineken and its Greek subsidiary Athenian Brewery in a long-running damages dispute linked to competition law breaches in Greece.
The ruling clears the way for a final damages decision in Amsterdam, with Macedonian Thrace Brewery seeking compensation following findings that Heineken’s Greek business abused its dominant market position.
Supreme Court backs Dutch jurisdiction
The Dutch Supreme Court has rejected an appeal brought by Heineken and its Greek subsidiary Athenian Brewery in a long-running legal battle over alleged anti-competitive conduct in the Greek beer market.
The case was brought by Macedonian Thrace Brewery (MTB), producer of the Vergina beer brand, and stems from a 2015 ruling by the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC), which found that Athenian Brewery had abused its dominant position in Greece for at least 16 years in order to restrict competition.
Heineken and Athenian Brewery had argued that claims relating to the conduct of the Greek subsidiary should not be heard by Dutch courts. However, the Supreme Court has now upheld earlier decisions confirming that Dutch courts have jurisdiction to hear claims against both companies.
The judgment follows a preliminary ruling issued by the European Court of Justice in February 2025.
Damages ruling expected this summer
The latest decision removes one of the final procedural obstacles in the case and allows the substantive proceedings before the Amsterdam District Court to move towards a damages ruling, expected later this summer.
MTB has been pursuing compensation claims linked to the competition breaches identified by Greek regulators.
The brewer argues that Heineken and Athenian Brewery’s conduct significantly harmed its ability to compete in the Greek market.
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Long-running dispute
As previously reported by the drinks business, the HCC fined Athenian Brewery €31.5 million in December 2015 following a 12-year investigation into its activities in Greece.
The regulator concluded that the company had implemented a long-term strategy designed to exclude competitors from both the on-trade and wider retail market.
According to the HCC, Athenian Brewery, which sells Heineken, Amstel and Alfa in Greece, pursued a policy that sought to restrict competitors’ growth opportunities and strengthen its dominance across the market.
In 2017, the Administrative Court of Appeal in Athens upheld the substance of the HCC’s findings, although it reduced the penalty to €26.7m.
At the time, Heineken described the original ruling as unfair and said it categorically rejected the competition authority’s conclusions.
MTB seeks compensation
Following the competition authority’s decision, MTB launched separate proceedings in Amsterdam seeking damages reportedly exceeding €100m.
Demetri Politopoulos, co-founder of MTB, previously welcomed the Greek appeal court’s decision, arguing that it confirmed the extent of the competition breaches.
“The competition authority and now the appeals court has reaffirmed the full extent and intensity of Heineken’s breaches of antitrust regulations in Greece,” he said at the time.
Politopoulos also argued that ultimate responsibility for the conduct rested with Heineken’s headquarters in Amsterdam, forming the basis of MTB’s decision to pursue claims against both Heineken and Athenian Brewery in the Netherlands.
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