S&C Obtains Dismissal for RBC Entities of ‘Gilts’ Bonds Antitrust Case

RBC Europe Limited and RBC Capital Markets LLC obtained the dismissal in full of a purported class action antitrust complaint filed against them and other defendants involved in the purchase and sale of U.K. government bonds, also known as Gilts.

The plaintiff, an Oklahoma pension fund, alleged that defendants violated section 1 of the Sherman Act by conspiring to fix the prices of all Gilts traded in the secondary market in the United States. Specifically, plaintiff alleged that defendants participated in a horizontal conspiracy aimed at artificially widening the bid-ask spreads for Gilts.

The plaintiff pointed to an ongoing regulatory investigation conducted by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (the CMA), in which certain defendants admitted to the exchange of competitively sensitive information. Plaintiff also relied on a provisional finding by the CMA that certain defendants violated UK competition law by having engaged in the information exchanges.

In his September 13 decision, John G. Koeltl of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York determined that plaintiff's complaint failed to adequately allege both the existence of a price-fixing conspiracy and that plaintiff suffered antitrust injury. Judge Koeltl found that plaintiff's allegations related to the CMA's investigation were not sufficient to plead the existence of a conspiracy because the CMA's findings were provisional and the exchange of competitively sensitive information-even if in violation of UK law-does not necessarily violate the Sherman Act.

The S&C team that represented the RBC entities included Alex Willscher, Matt Porpora, Jonathan Carter, Robert Jones and Amy Taylor.