The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Scandic Hotels AB, the Swedish hotel-chain, by EQT V Limited (EQT) also of Sweden. After…
The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Scandic Hotels AB, the Swedish hotel-chain, by EQT V Limited (EQT) also of Sweden. After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
EQT is a financial investor controlled by Investor AB of Sweden and active in various fields. Scandic is a hotel chain operator in the mid-market segment, currently owned by Hilton. Scandic operates 132 hotels; most of them located in the Nordic countries.
The Commission’s examination of the proposed transaction showed that the horizontal overlaps between the activities of EQT and Scandic are limited to the Stockholm area, where EQT owns one single hotel (Grand Hotel) and that the combined entity would continue to face several strong, effective competitors with significant market shares. Since EQT has no other hotels and no vertical relationships exist between the parties, the Commission has concluded that the proposed transaction would not give rise to competition concerns.
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