Brussels, 07/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has approved plans to set up a joint venture between the companies Sonoco, an American packaging producer, and Ahlstrom, a Finnish producer of fibre-based materials. The new entity will bring together their activities in the field of paper board and tubes. The Commission has closed its inquiry, following commitments made by both companies to preserve competition on the various paper tubes markets.
Upon examination, the Commission noted that activities on the Scandinavian market for high-quality tube rollers (for magazines) and for the low-cost tube markets (for paper and textiles, amongst other uses) in Norway and Sweden caused competition problems, due to large market shares. By proposing to give up the only Ahlstrom production unit in Norway, in Sveberg, and not to set up their operation until they found a buyer, the parties made undertakings which were satisfactory to the Commission. The Commission feels that these proposals will allow a local competitor to develop on the market or for a newcomer to set up, and that they will remove most of the overlaps of the activities of the two companies in Scandinavia.