BRUSSELS, Belgium — European antitrust regulators cleared the purchase of troubled appliance maker Moulinex SA by its rival SEB SA on Tuesday after a lengthy review of the competitive consequences of the deal.
It was the second time the European Union regulators have investigated the deal.
“The fresh in-depth analysis has confirmed that British, Finnish, Irish, Italian and Spanish consumers benefit from sufficient competition even after the merger,” the European Commission said in a statement.
Paris-based SEB, whose brands include Tefal and Rowenta, was granted permission to acquire sole control of bankrupt Moulinex by a French court in 2001. Moulinex, whose brands include Krups and Swan, was hobbled by industry overcapacity, foreign competition and a $731 million debt load.
The commission had given conditional approval to the deal in January 2002, but demanded that SEB grant licenses to the Moulinex brand for five years to its competitors in nine of the 15 EU nations. SEB was also not to use the Moulinex brand for a further three years after those licenses expired.
The EU head office also referred review of the competition effects on the French market to French authorities, who subsequently cleared the deal.
SEB granted Moulinex licenses to Italy’s Saeco International Group SpA for eight EU countries and to Greece’s Benrubi in its home market. It failed to sign agreements for Spain, Britain, Finland, Italy and Ireland.
Rivals Royal Philips Electronics NV and French Babyliss appealed the approval of the merger to the EU’s European Court of Justice, which annulled the merger decision in April, in those five EU countries where SEB failed to grant Moulinex license agreements.
Shortly after, SEB refiled its application to the EU for antitrust approval. In May, the Commission opened an in-depth, four-month probe into the deal’s impact in Britain, Ireland, Finland, Italy and Spain.
In their conclusions, EU regulators concluded SEB “will neither hold nor strengthen a dominant position on any of the relevant markets.”
Moulinex got its start by producing hand-held mashed potato grinders, but grew into a widely recognized maker of kitchen products such as kettles, food processors and pressure cookers. SEB produces vacuum cleaners, toaster ovens and French fryers.
>From newsday.com