Macedonian Thrace Brewery: Amsterdam District Court orders Heineken to pay €111 million in damages "in a competition case" in the Greek beer market
- Final judgment addresses a claim first filed nearly a decade ago with the Amsterdam District Court, after a succession of rulings established Heineken's liability for the conduct of its Greek subsidiary
- The judgment is by far the largest private enforcement award for market abuses in Greece's food and beverages sector
- Earlier rulings have confirmed that a parent company may be sued in its home jurisdiction for a subsidiary's competition breach anywhere in the EU
KOMOTINI, Greece, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Amsterdam District Court has ordered Heineken N.V. and its Greek subsidiary Athenian Brewery ("AB") to pay €111 million in damages to Macedonian Thrace Brewery ("MTB"), maker of Greece's popular Vergina beers. Athenian Brewery's brands include Alfa, Mamos, Nymphi, Noctua and Fischer, as well as Amstel and Heineken.
Demetri Chriss, Director of Business Development at MTB, said:
"The Amsterdam District Court's judgment goes a long way in setting the record straight.
This is one of the most significant milestones in MTB's history, as it recognizes hard work, careful planning and dedication.
Justice has been served."
Today's judgment brings to a close long-running proceedings that began when MTB sued Heineken in the Amsterdam District Court in 2017. The claim followed on from the December 2015 decision of the Hellenic Competition Commission ("HCC") which found that AB had abused its dominant position in the Greek beer market for at least 16 years in order to exclude competitors such as MTB, resulting in the highest fine in the HCC's history for Heineken's local subsidiary.
In October 2024, the Amsterdam District Court held that Heineken and AB form part of a single economic undertaking and are therefore jointly and severally liable for the harm caused by AB's infringement. Heineken's challenge to the jurisdiction of the Dutch courts was rejected by the Dutch Supreme Court in June, following the European Court of Justice's February 2025 ruling.
Today's judgment settles the question of what Heineken must pay.
In addition to the €111 million, the Court awarded expert costs (of EUR 800k + interest) and EUR 41k in costs.
No hiding place: what the Amsterdam decision means for European business
The significance of this litigation reaches far beyond the beer industry. It confirms the legal precedent that a multinational can no longer put artificial legal distance between itself and any of its subsidiaries that break the law.
A parent company is liable where it exercises decisive influence over its subsidiary. Any multinational headquartered in an EU member state can be sued in its home jurisdiction for the actions of its subsidiaries anywhere in the Union.
In Greece itself, the HCC has opened a new investigation into alleged abuses in the beer market in the period after its original 2015 decision.
About MTB
Founded in 1996 in Komotini, MTB was the first Greek-owned brewery to produce a beer with a Greek label in the modern era, launching its signature Vergina Premium Lager in a market that had been monopolized by foreign brewers since the 1800s.
Over the years MTB's beers have received Europe's highest accolades and to this day it remains the only Greek-owned brewery offering a full range of premium and specialty beers throughout Greece and internationally.
MTB went on to establish the first contractual farming programme in Greece for malting barley, working directly with hundreds of Greek growers, and has since become the country's premier exporter of Greek specialty malts produced at its state-of-the-art facilities in Komotini.
Heineken's abusive conduct, as confirmed by the HCC, began within months of Vergina reaching the market in 1998 and continued for at least the next 16 years.
The judgment is available at: ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2026:10277, Rechtbank Amsterdam, C/13/701248 / HA ZA 21-421
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