IP/06/1212
Brussels, 19th September 2006
Mergers: Commission clears proposed acquisition by voestalpine of Profilafroid and Société Automatique de Profilage The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of two French companies active in the production of cold rolled steel sections, Profilafroid and Société Automatique de Profilage by voestalpine Profilform of Austria. The Commission’s investigation found that the proposed transaction would not impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any significant part of it. voestalpine Profilform GmbH, a subsidiary of voestalpine AG (Austria), serves as a holding company for the voestalpine group, which is active in the steel sector, including the production and distribution of open and hollow sections (tubes and profiles), specialising in welded tubes, hollow sections, open standard sections, all types of custom-roll forming of special tubes and sections, storage technology and road crash barriers.
Profilafroid SA and Société Automatique de Profilage (“SAP”) are both active in the production of cold forming strip.
The parties’ activities overlap in the production of cold rolled steel sections, and, although they are active in several European countries, their activities are geographically complementary. While voestalpine is more focused in Austria, Profilafroid and SAP are more focused in France.
The Commission found that the activities of the parties will overlap only to a very limited extent in the markets in which they are present and that therefore the proposed operation would not result in significant changes in the market structure liable to adversely affect competition.
More information on the case will be available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/mergers/cases/index/m85.html#m_4291
