On Thursday 16 December, the European Commission authorised the acquisition of the Groupe Ecore by Derichebourg.
This authorisation is subject to full compliance with a series of commitments proposed by Derichebourg.
Derichebourg (France), a subsidiary of the Groupe Derichebourg, is active in the environmental services sector, such as waste collection and recovery and business services like cleaning services. Groupe Ecore (France) operates in the waste management sector, from the collection to the marketing of end-of-life materials. It is mainly involved in the recycling of metal scrap.
The Commission found that the transaction would lead to significant horizontal overlaps between the activities of the companies in these markets.
To address the Commission’s competition concerns, Derichebourg offered to: - divest four recycling plants in France incorporating a shredder and four collection sites; - offer, at the option of the purchaser, up to five additional collection sites in France located in the same catchment area of the recycling plants divested, which will contribute to the supply of metal scrap to the shredders; - offer transitional service agreements, including access to all assets and services required to operate the divested business competitively (such as IT services, transport services, or quality, safety and environmental services) for a duration enabling the divested business to become fully independent from Derichebourg. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)