Brussels, 26/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 24 October, the European Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of Dutch paper merchant MAP, which belongs to the Finnish M-Real group, by the French paper merchant Antalis. The Commission's clearance is conditional on the commitment by the parties to divest the UK paper merchant Premier, currently a subsidiary of MAP. In view of this commitment, the Commission concluded that the operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
The Commission reviewed the competitive effects of the proposed concentration in each European market in which both Antalis and MAP are currently active. The market investigation revealed that the proposed operation, as initially notified, could significantly reduce competition in the UK paper distribution market, characterised by the presence of two major players with comparable market shares accounting for about 75% of the market.
In order to remove these concerns, the parties committed to divest paper merchant Premier, one of MAP's subsidiaries in the UK, which is equivalent in size to the UK operations of Antalis. The parties also committed to offer the purchaser of Premier the possibility of entering into a logistic service contract with Antalis UK's logistics arm, gm2, in addition to acquiring Premier's own logistic capabilities.
After market testing these commitments, the Commission concluded that they would remove the competition concerns raised by the proposed transaction. (O.L.)