EC Statement: Mergers - Commission clears acquisition of Swedish company Dometic by UK investment fund EQT V
( April 19, 2011, 16:20 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: The European Commission has approved plans by investment fund EQT V to acquire Swedish leisure products and services provider Dometic.The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of leisure products and services provider Dometic of Sweden by the investment fund EQT V of the United Kingdom. After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
Dometic is a Swedish industrial group that supplies leisure products and ancillary services for the caravan, motorhome, automotive, truck and marine markets as well as various refrigeration products.
EQT V was set up in 2006 as part of the EQT group of private equity funds. It does not have a controlling interest in any company which is active in the same markets as Dometic. However, since the EQT group of private equity funds owns Scandic, a hotel chain operator, the Commission examined the vertical relationship between Scandic’s hotel accommodation services and Dometic’s activities in the provision of hotel minibars. The assessment has shown that Scandic has rather modest market shares in the provision of hotel accommodation and an even smaller share in the demand for hotel minibars. The Commission therefore concluded that the transaction will not result in either other hotel service providers or other manufacturers of hotel minibars being shut out of the market.
Merger control rules and procedures
The Commission, in 1989, was given the power to assess mergers and acquisitions involving companies with a turnover above certain thresholds (see Art 1 of the Merger Regulation). The Commission clears the vast majority of mergers without conditions and only accepts remedies or prohibits mergers when the notified transaction would lead to a significant impediment to competition and make consumers worse off.
From the moment a transaction is notified, the Commission generally has a total of 25 working days to decide whether to grant approval (Phase I) or to start an in-depth investigation (Phase II).
The present transaction was notified to the Commission on 25 February 2011....
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