Merger Notification - Announcement according to § 10 Cartel Act
Uranus Investment II S.à.r.l.; EKG Beteiligungs GmbH
BWB/Z-6631
On 02.07.2024 the Austrian Federal Competition Authority was notified of the following merger:
Planned purchase process
The investment funds Bregal Unternehmerkapital IV SCSp, Bregal Unternehmerkapital IV Funding Feeder SCSp, Bregal Unternehmerkapital IV-A SCSp and Bregal Unternehmerkapital IV-B SCSp (all Grand Duchy of Luxembourg) which are ultimately controlled by COFRA Holding AG (Switzerland) intend to indirectly - via Uranus Investment II S.à.r.l (Grand Duchy of Luxembourg) - acquire a controlling minority participation (within the meaning of competition law) in EKG Beteiligungs GmbH (Germany) and thus in the Hettich group, so that the latter will be jointly controlled (within the meaning of competition law) by the previous owner Klaus-Günter Eberle and Uranus Investment II S.à.r.l.
The intended concentration concerns the manufacture and distribution of laboratory equipment, in particular laboratory centrifuges, laboratory cooling solutions and incubators.
Affected business areas: Manufacture of medical and dental instruments and supplies (32.50-9), Repair of electronic and optical equipment (33.13-0).
C - MANUFACTURING
Deadline for bringing in an application pursuant to § 11(1) Cartel Act will end on 30.07.2024.
Entrepreneurs whose legal or economic interests are affected by the merger can bring in a written statement at the Federal Competition Authority or the Federal Cartel Prosecutor within 14 days from publication date.
Note: The intervening party has no right to a certain treatment of the statement and will not gain a party position.
Non-prohibition of the merger
The Federal Competition Authority and the Federal Cartel Prosecutor have not applied for examination of the merger by the Cartel Court. The standstill obligation (§ 17 (1) Cartel Act) ends with effect from 31.07.2024 .