Edenred shares tank as Italian regulator launches market abuse probe

(Sharecast News) - Shares in Edenred slumped on Thursday after Italy's competition regulator said it had launched an investigation into the meal voucher company and its Italian unit, citing possible abuse of its dominant position. The watchdog said its officials, together with the Italian Financial Police, carried out inspections at the premises of Edenred Italia on Wednesday.

French-headquartered Edenred said it was "at the disposal" of the AGCM regulator to provide all necessary explanations.

"Following the introduction of a statutory cap on the reimbursement fees charged to affiliated businesses accepting meal vouchers, Edenred is thought to have implemented a complex strategy aimed at shifting entirely unjustified costs onto large-scale retail chains," the AGCM said in a statement.

"In particular, Edenred seems to have unilaterally changed how electronic meal vouchers are accepted by discontinuing the direct integration between large-scale retail checkout systems and its own authorisation platforms."

It added that this appeared to have been replaced by a requirement to use third-party interconnection systems, resulting in higher costs for large-scale retail chains. It also alleged that Edenred may have imposed other unfavourable conditions, such as longer voucher reimbursement periods.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com