IP/06/508
Brussels, 19th April 2006
Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of Küsters by Andritz The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Eduard Küsters Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co KG (“Küsters”), a German manufacturer of calenders (used in paper and textiles manufacturing), by the Austrian producer of paper-manufacturing machinery Andritz GmbH (“Andritz”). After investigation the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.
Andritz is a manufacturer of paper-producing machinery for the production of tissue, board and fine paper, and also of production systems for the steel, environment, feed technology, hydraulic technology and other sectors. On the market for paper-producing machinery Andritz faces strong competition from leading players such as Voith and Metso.
Küsters is a manufacturer of calenders which are used in the production of paper, non-woven products and textiles, and is also a supplier of related parts and services. Calenders are required for paper finishing and constitute one of the final elements in a paper production line.
The Commission’s investigation revealed that the parties’ activities overlap horizontally only as far as calenders are concerned. Küsters, but not Andritz, has a significant share of the EEA calender market and the increment in calender market share is marginal. The Commission also found that nearly all of the leading paper machinery producers other than Andritz already have their own in-house calender production facilities, and that therefore post-merger Andritz would continue to face effective competition in the market for the supply of paper-production calenders.
Indeed the Commission’s market investigation indicated that following the proposed acquisition of Küsters, Andritz would be better able to compete with major world players such as Voith and Metso, who already compete with full paper machinery lines.
