Brussels, 24/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 23 November, the European Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of Industrias Derivadas del Aluminio S.A. (Indal) of Spain by Philips of the Netherlands. The project was notified on 17 October 2011. The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not raise competition concerns because the merged entity would continue to face sufficiently strong competition from other well-established manufacturers in the markets for lamps, light fixtures, light fixture components, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and LED modules.
Although, the activities of Philips and Indal overlap for the manufacture of professional light fixtures, and the merged entity will become a leading supplier in Europe for these fixtures, it will continue to face sufficiently strong competition from other well-established manufacturers such as Schréder and Zumtobel-Thorn. There are vertical relationships between Indal, as a manufacturer of professional light fixtures, and Philips, as a manufacturer in the upstream markets for lamps, light fixture components, LEDs and LED modules but Indal's purchases from Philips currently represent a small percentage of Philips' sales. The merged entity will not therefore have the ability to shut out competitors. (FG/transl.fl)