Australia’s competition regulator said it would not oppose Sika’s 5.5 billion Swiss franc ($6.12 billion) takeover of MBCC Group, only if the Swiss chemicals maker divested MBCC Group’s entire business in Australia and New Zealand.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said on Thursday it would not oppose the deal after accepting a court-enforceable undertaking from Sika that it would divest MBCC’s entire antipodean business.
The undertaking is part of a global remedy package in which Sika committed to divest construction chemicals maker MBCC’s admixture business in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, the UK, United States and Canada, including several research and development facilities, the regulator said.
“Without the divestiture, Sika’s acquisition would combine the two largest suppliers of chemical admixtures in Australia, resulting in a market share of approximately 80 per cent,” ACCC Commissioner Stephen Ridgway said.
The proposed deal was earlier given conditional approval by the European Commission and has also been cleared by the UK’s competition watchdog.
Source: Reuters.com