On Thursday 24 February, the European Commission approved the proposed merger between Cargotec (Finland) and Konecranes (Finland). The authorisation is conditional on the transfer of certain businesses.
According to Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President responsible for competition policy, after remedies proposed by the two companies, “customers in Europe will continue to have sufficient choice of port equipment and will continue benefiting from competitive prices and a great choice of technology”.
Both companies are leading European manufacturers and are among the world’s leading manufacturers of container and cargo handling equipment. They also provide terminal automation solutions.
In order to allay the European Commission’s concerns, the companies offered the following commitments: - in the rubber-tired gantry and straddle and shuttle carriers markets, Cargotec has undertaken to divest its full cranes and straddle/shuttle carrier business, including a manufacturing plant in Poland and a licence to use its Kalmar brand for the divested product categories; - in the mobile equipment markets (mobile equipment spreaders), Konecranes has undertaken to divest its manufacturing and marketing of reach stackers, full container handlers, empty container handlers and forklift trucks (this includes production plants in Sweden and China as well as contracts with distributors).
These commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the European Commission. The feedback received confirmed the European Commission’s view that the divested assets constituted viable economic activities that would enable suitable purchasers to compete effectively with the merged entity.
Link to the case: https://aeur.eu/f/hf (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)