The Market Court has extended the time limit for the FCCA’s Phase II investigation on Parma’s acquisition of AS TMB until 7 February 2019. The FCCA applied for the extension at Parma’s request.
On 10 August 2018, the FCCA was notified of an arrangement whereby Parma Oy would acquire AS TMB. Parma Oy is a producer of precast concrete in Finland. Parma also provides its customers with design, assembly and transportation for precast concrete. Parma is part of the Consolis Group, engaged in the design, manufacture and production of precast concrete in 30 countries throughout Europe, Southeast Asia and North Africa.
AS TMB is the parent company of TMB Group, involved in the manufacture, design and installation of concrete elements. TMB Group operates in Baltic region, Scandinavia and Finland, where the Group operates through Betonimestarit Oy. Betonimestarit Oy produces concrete framework elements, slabs and wall elements, in addition to which the company’s product range includes infraproducts.
The FCCA initiated an in-depth investigation to assess the acquisition on 7 September 2018. Based on the FCCA’s preliminary investigation, the acquisition may have adverse effects on competition. Without the extension, the time limit would have ended on 7 December 2018. On 22 November 2018, Parma requested that the FCCA ask for the time limit to be extended to 7 February 2019.
Given the scope and current phase of the proceedings, in the view of the FCCA and the notifying party to the acquisition, an extension any shorter than the one requested would not be sufficient for the completion of FCCA’s investigation.
According to the Competition Act, the FCCA may approve the acquisition as such, approve the transaction subject to conditions or propose that the Finnish Market Court prohibits the acquisition.
Read more:
- FCCA to further investigate competition effects of acquisition between Parma and AS TMB, FCCA press release, 7 September 2018
More information:
- Senior Research Officer Anu Ala-Outinen, tel. +358 (0)29 505 3010, firstname.lastname@kkv.fi
According to the Competition Act, the FCCA must be notified of the transaction if the combined turnover of the parties to the corporate transaction exceeds 350 million euros and the turnover from Finland of at least two of the parties exceeds a combined total of 20 million euros. The FCCA will approve a corporate transaction if it has none of the harmful impacts referred to in the Competition Act. The FCCA will intervene in corporate transactions if its investigations suggest that the acquisition substantially impedes effective competition on Finnish markets or a substantial part of the markets, particularly through the creation or reinforcement of a dominant market position. Where necessary, notifications of acquisitions are considered in two stages. The so-called first stage takes a month at most. If the acquisition is clearly not harmful to competition, or if the harmful effects can be prevented by means proposed by the parties to the acquisition, the acquisition is approved during the first stage. If not, the FCCA decides to conduct a further investigation of the matter, during which the acquisition and its competition effects are investigated in further detail.