Mergers: Commission approves merger of activities of Galenica and Fresenius in human health sector

European Commission - Press release

Mergers: Commission approves merger of activities of Galenica and Fresenius in human health sector

Brussels, 06 October 2011 - The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the creation of a joint venture by Galenica of Switzerland and Fresenius of Germany in the human health sector. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) ¹ or any substantial part of it.

The newly created joint venture will supply intravenous iron preparations manufactured by Galenica. Fresenius uses iron preparations in its clinics when providing dialysis treatment to patients with chronic kidney disease. The parties are therefore active in several Member States on markets at different levels of the supply chain.

The Commission concluded that the vertical link between the joint venture's activities on the market for iron preparations and Fresenius' activities on the market for dialysis services would not prevent competitors on either of those markets from being able to find sufficient customers and suppliers respectively.

The transaction was notified to the Commission on 31 August 2011.

Background

The Galenica Group develops, manufactures and sells pharmaceutical products worldwide.

The Fresenius Group offers products and services for dialysis and hospitals and provides hospital management and engineering services for medical centres.

Merger control rules and procedures

The Commission, in 1989, was given the power to assess mergers and acquisitions involving companies with a turnover above certain thresholds (see Article 1 of the Merger Regulation). Its duty is to prevent concentrations that would significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.

The vast majority of mergers do not pose competition problems and are cleared after a routine review. From the moment a transaction is notified, the Commission generally has a total of 25 working days to decide whether to grant approval (Phase I) or to start an in-depth investigation (Phase II).

A non-confidential version of today's decision will be available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/elojade/isef/case_details.cfm?proc_code=2_M_6091

¹ :

The EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein