Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: EC approves Coty’s acquisition of P&G’s beauty products businesses, (Feb 16, 2016)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

The European Commission (EC) has approved global beauty products manufacturer Coty Inc.’s acquisition of Procter & Gamble’s beauty products businesses. The EC gave its approval after finding that “strong independent players would remain active in all the concerned markets,” according to an announcement released today.

Both Coty and Procter & Gamble are U.S. manufacturers of beauty products, including color cosmetics, fragrances, and skin & body products. In approving the proposed acquisition, the EC determined that the combined market shares in the fragrances market would remain low-to-moderate in all affected markets and consumers will continue to have a large range of choices in fragrances from significant competitors after the merger. In addition, the EC found that the combined market shares in the color cosmetics market would remain moderate in all affected markets and that consumers will continue to have a large choice of color cosmetics from significant competitors. The competition in these two markets would therefore remain sufficiently strong to prevent price increases for European consumers, the EC concluded.

The parties have already received regulatory approval from agencies in the United States and in several other countries, according to a Coty announcement. Coty expects the transaction to close during the second half of 2016.

Companies: Coty Inc.; The Procter & Gamble Co.

News: AcquisitionsMergers Antitrust