Displaying items by tag: competition

Belgium: The European Commission (EC) has blocked the creation of a joint venture between Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp. It said that the merger would have reduced competition and increased prices for different types of steel. It added that the parties did not offer adequate remedies to address these concerns.

“Steel is a crucial input for many things we use in our everyday life, such as canned food and cars. Millions of people in Europe work in these sectors and companies depend on competitive steel prices to sell on a global level. Without remedies addressing our serious competition concerns, the merger between Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp would have resulted in higher prices. So we prohibited the merger to avoid serious harm to European industrial customers and consumers,” said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

The proposed joint venture would have combined the flat carbon steel and electrical steel activities of ThyssenKrupp and Tata Steel in the European Economic Area (EEA). ThyssenKrupp is the second largest producer of flat carbon steel in the EEA while Tata Steel is the third largest. Both companies are significant producers of metallic coated and laminated steel for packaging applications and of galvanised flat carbon steel for the automotive industry.

Europe: AcelorMittal has received approval from the European Commission (EC) for the sale of selected steelmaking assets to Liberty House Group. The divestment includes ArcelorMittal Ostrava in the Czech Republic, ArcelorMittal Galati in Romania, ArcelorMittal Skopje in North Macedonia, ArcelorMittal Piombin in Italy, ArcelorMittal Dudelange in Luxembourg and several finishing lines at ArcelorMittal Liège in Belgium. The assets are part of a divestment package that AcelorMittal agreed with the EC during its merger control investigation into its acquisition of Ilva. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the first half of 2019.

UK: LKAB Minerals says it is aiming to complete its acquisition of Francis Flower on 3 December 2018. It added that the planning acquisition had also received clearance from the Austrian Competition Authority.

France: Holcim will sell its slag grinding plant in Dunkirk as part of divestments required by the European Commission (EC) to approve its merger with Lafarge.

The European Union's antitrust authority has required asset sales by both companies in regions where their activities overlap. The EC's approval is conditional upon the divestment of Lafarge's businesses in Germany, Romania and the UK. Holcim is required to divest its operations in France, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and the Czech Republic. The proposed transaction concerns assets worth several billion Euros and will create the world's largest cement producer, with operations in 90 countries.

"The Commission had concerns that the transaction, as originally notified, would have had a detrimental effect on competition in a significant number of markets in the European Economic Area (EEA)," said the EC. "The commitments offered by the two companies address these concerns."

According to the EC, its assessment found that the merged entity would have faced insufficient competitive pressure from the remaining players in many markets. This would have brought a risk of price rises. In order to prevent a negative impact on competition, the companies have committed to divesting most of the operations where their activities overlap. Further, the EC said that Holcim and Lafarge will not be allowed to close the deal until it has approved the buyers of the assets put up for sale.