Brussels, 25/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 25 February, the European Commission announced that it had approved the proposed acquisition of the American supplier of dental equipment, Sirona, by Dentsply, subject to conditions. Sirona is the leading supplier of chairside CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing) systems and has a very strong position on this market in several member states and in the European Economic Area.
On the basis of its investigation, the Commission concluded that as initially notified, the transaction could give the entity born of the merger the capacity and incentive to exclude competitors by closing down Sirona's chairside CAD/CAM systems activity to other block providers, in order to favour its own blocks. Although Denstply's current offer in chairside CAD/CAM systems is limited, the investigation showed that this could be expanded in the near future to replace other CAD/CAM blocks suppliers.
This could result in higher prices being paid by dentists for CAD/CAM blocks, which would lead to the extra costs being passed on to patients needing dental restoration work.
The parties therefore proposed an extension of the existing licensing agreements with the competing chairside CAD/CAM block suppliers by ten years, in other words until 1 March 2026. They have also promised technical and legal safeguards for competing CAD/CAM block suppliers for the duration of their licensing agreements. This includes providing the necessary know-how to these suppliers, protecting confidential commercial and technical information and refraining from taking measures that could limit the usability of the competitors' CAD/CAM blocks, and a fast-track arbitration procedure for dispute settlement. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)