An in -depth enquiry will now be done by the European Commission concerning the proposed acquisition by Deutsche Post AG of the shares held by Industrial Information GmbH in the sector of high-speed delivery service trans-o-flex Schenll-Lieferdienst GmbH.
The Reasons
Deutsche Post operates the national postal service in Germany, covering letter and parcel services at national and international level. Through subsidiary companies Deutsche Post is also active in the express delivery, national, international freight express freight. Trans-0-flex provides logistics and transport services in Germany, Austria and some other countries of the European Union.
The first investigations made by the Commission's services DG IV, show that trans-o-flex is active to a considerable extent in areas where Deutsche Post already holds substantial market shares, in particular the national and international parcel service and the national and international express delivery service. It seems that the Commission cannot exclude for the time being the fact that the merger creates, strengthens or preserves a dominant position on any of the these markets and is therefore incompatible with the common market rules.
Therefore, the Commission will apply in accordance with Article 6(1) of the Merger Regulation the opening of the procedure. This means that the Commission has a maximum period of four months to make a final decision under this procedure.
This article is based and incorporates information provided by the European Commission (Press Releases) and is intended for general information. Specialist advice should be sought before acting on it.
Deutsche Post Trans-O-Flex Merger case examined more closely by the European Commission
