The European Commission has sent a statement of objections to Kingspan, a building materials company based in Ireland, in connection with its planned acquisition of Trimo, a company which, like Kingspan, produces and distributes mineral fibre panels. Kingspan eventually abandoned the acquisition.
At this stage, the Commission considered that Kingspan had provided it with inaccurate, incomplete and misleading information during the investigation carried out in 2021.
According to the Commission, this information concerns essential facts relating to Kingspan’s internal organisation, essential facts making it possible to assess the scope of the relevant product and geographic markets, the existence of barriers to entry and expansion, the extent of innovation and, lastly, the intensity of competition between Kingspan and Trimo and in relation to their competitors.
Such behaviour contravenes the obligations of the parties in merger proceedings. The Commission specified that this behaviour may have been deliberate or negligent.
Kingspan has the opportunity to respond to the Commission’s statement of objections. However, if the alleged facts are confirmed, the Commission could impose a fine of up to 1% of the company’s annual worldwide turnover. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)