Brussels, 05/08/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has approved the acquisition of the British company Tibbet & Britten Group by its competitor, Exel. The public offer to purchase made by Exel is estimated at 328 million, and the company hopes to complete the operation by the end of the year.
The two companies based in the United Kingdom are present in the sector of contract logistics throughout the world and provide services for manufacturers and retailers, including the provision of warehousing and transportation services. The Commission considers that the takeover was not of a kind to raise any competition problems despite the fact that some of their activities in several Member States overlap. It is above all the British market that caused concern as the operation will give rise there to a first group with a 25% share of the market. Nonetheless, the Commission considers that there are a sufficient number of other existing suppliers, as well as the possibilities for entering the market and developing new competitors. Also, contracts are generally of short duration and usually owned by the customers who are large and sophisticated buyers who normally have a multisource approach and maintain a significant part of logistic services in-house.