Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: EC approves acquisition of Stemcor by Apollo, (Sep 18, 2015)

By Linda O’Brien, J.D., LL.M.

The European Commission (EC) has cleared under the European Union (EU) merger regulation the acquisition of Stemcor Limited and Stemcor Holding 2 Limited and their subsidiaries of the United Kingdom by the Apollo Group of the United States, the EC announced today.

The Apollo Group is a private equity company that invests in companies involved in various businesses throughout the world. Based in London, Stemcor trades and distributes steel and steel-making raw materials globally. The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns because the companies' activities do not overlap. The operation was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

WMF Group acquisition. The EC has also cleared under the EU merger regulation the acquisition of joint control over WMF Group GmbH of Germany by KKR & Co. L.P. of the United States and FIBA Beteiligungs- und Anlage GmbH of Austria. KKR, a private equity company, holds sole control over WMF. KKR's portfolio companies include the vending machine business Selecta. FIBA's main activity is a holding in the Austrian water technology company BWT AG. It currently has a non-controlling minority stake in WMF. WMF produces and distributes table- and kitchenware and small electrical appliances for households as well as table- and kitchenware and fully-automated coffee machines for professional use.

The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, because the companies' activities do not overlap. Moreover, the relationships arising from BWT's water filter cartridge business on the one hand and WMF and Selecta on the other are limited. In particular, other water filter cartridge producers will continue to have a sufficient customer base in the market.

Freescale – NXP merger. On September 17, the proposed acquisition of Freescale of Bermuda by NXP of the Netherlands was approved by the EC under the EU merger regulation. The approval is conditional upon NXP divesting its radio frequency power business to address the Commission's concerns that the takeover could otherwise have led to higher prices and less competition in this specific market.

Both companies manufacture semiconductors at the global level. Semiconductors are used in various electronic components (such as diodes and transistors) that control the conduction of electricity. They are found in a very wide range of products from cars to smartphones and computers.

Companies: The Apollo Group; Stemcor Ltd.; WMF Group GmbH; KKR & Co. L.P.; FIBA Beteiligungs- und Anlage GmbH; Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.; NXP Semiconductors

News: AcquisitionsMergers Antitrust