Brussels, 29/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 29 April the European Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of Scribona of Sweden by the US-based company Tech Data. Both companies are active in the wholesale distribution of information technology products. The Commission's investigation has shown that the concentration would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
The Commission examined the potential effects of the proposed transaction on the market for the wholesale distribution of IT products in the EEA and, in particular, in those countries in which the parties' activities overlap, namely in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The Commission investigated in particular the wholesale distribution of servers and personal computers where the overlap in the parties' activities appeared to be more significant. However, given the presence of strong competitors and the competitive pressure from direct sales by manufacturers of IT products and software producers, the Commission concluded that even in these narrow market segments the combination of Tech Data and Scribona would not give rise to competition concerns. (L.C.)