Denmark: DCCA Clears The Way For Ahlsell-Sanistål Merger Despite Significant Overlaps

The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority ("DCCA") has approved the acquisition by Ahlsell Danmark ApS ("Ahsell") of Sanistål A/S ("Sanistål"), which both operate in the Danish metal industry as well as in related retail markets.

The merger was originally notified to the European Commission as the turnover exceeded the EU turnover threshold. Nonetheless, the European Commission referred the merger back to the DCCA. As the parties had significant overlaps in several markets, especially in those of (i) retail sale of installation articles, tools and building materials to professional customers (ii) wholesale sale of articles for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, the DCCA conducted a thorough analyses of the potential effects on competition of the merger.

Following its analyses, the DCCA concluded that the acquisition should be cleared, as:

• Ahlsell and Sanistål have different business and customer focuses, the competitive pressure between the companies on national and local markets was relatively limited before the merger; and
• It is relatively easy for customers to switch to other suppliers, including other national and local hardware stores and specialty retailers as well as online retailers.

The assessment inter alia consisted in interviews with key actors in the affected markets as well as obtaining answers from approximately 3,000 respondents in a survey.