Brussel, 10 October 2008 - Acting under the EU Merger Regulation, the European Commission has cleared the acquisition of sole control over the German retailer Metro Group by Haniel also of Germany. Haniel is already a large shareholder in Metro and intends to acquire control by way of a pooling arrangement with another shareholder, Schmidt-Ruthenbeck.
The Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic area (EEA) or in any substantial part of it.
Haniel is a family owned business, active worldwide in a variety of industries, in particular trading raw materials for the steel industry, the production of construction materials and the wholesale of pharmaceutical products, textile and washroom hygiene services.
Metro is a listed company which is active in operating cash & carry markets, hypermarkets, supermarkets, warehouses and electronics stores.
Schmidt-Ruthenbeck is a family owned business which operates holiday hotels in Germany and Austria. It also has activities in the field of digital image processing systems.
The Commission's investigation found that the overlap of activities between Haniel and Metro is small and concerns the sale of professional clothing. Minor vertical relationships exist in the field of textile and washroom hygiene services. The market shares of the parties in these areas are small and many competitors are present on these markets. The Commission therefore concluded that the proposed transaction would not raise any competition concerns.