EUROPEAN COMMISSION
PRESS RELEASE
Brussels, 14 March 2014
Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of Spanish
metal food cans producer Mivisa by rival Crown, subject
to conditions
The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed
acquisition of Mivisa Envases, S.A.U. of Spain by Crown Holdings, Inc. of the United
States. Both Crown and Mivisa manufacture metal food cans used for fruit and vegetables,
fish and seafood, pet food as well as ready-made meals. The clearance is conditional upon
(i) the divestment of Crown's plants producing metal cans in Spain and (ii) the divestment
of Mivisa's metal food cans plant in the Netherlands. The Commission was concerned that
following the acquisition, the level of competition in markets for metal food cans in the
Benelux, France, Spain and Portugal would have been too weak to avoid price increases.
The commitments offered by Crown address these concerns.
The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction, as originally notified, would
have given the merged entity very high market shares in the Benelux, France, Spain and
Portugal and would have eliminated an important and aggressive competitor from the
market, Mivisa. In each area, only one sizeable competing supplier would have remained
(Ardagh in the Benelux, France and Portugal and Auxiliar in Spain). The Commission
considered that this remaining supplier would have had limited incentives to compete with
the merged entity. Other players would also have had limited ability to supply customers
with large volumes and product ranges. Given this lack of alternatives, customers would
have likely faced price increases.
In order to address the Commission's concerns, Crown offered to divest its metal cans
plants in La Rioja, Murcia, Coruxo-Vigo, Ugao-Miravalles and Montmeló. Crown will also
install in the Vigo plant an additional production line, in order to enable this facility to
serve Portuguese customers with sufficient capacity for all the sizes of cans which Crown
and Mivisa currently sell in Portugal. As a result, the divested plant in Vigo will impose a
competitive constraint on the merged entity not only in Spain but also in Portugal. The
Commission concluded that the plant in La Rioja can serve clients in southern France, as
Mivisa does presently. In addition Mivisa's plant producing metal food cans in Horst (the
Netherlands) will also be divested. This facility is also currently used to serve Mivisa's
customers in northern France.
In view of the remedies proposed, the Commission concluded that the transaction, as
modified, would raise no competition concerns. This decision is conditional upon full
compliance with the commitments.
The transaction was notified to the Commission on 24 January 2014.
IP/14/270
Background
The Commission did not identify competition concerns with respect to the production and
supply of food metal cans in Germany and in Hungary, mainly because of the presence of
significant alternative suppliers in addition to Ardagh (such as: Silgan, CanPack and
PikoPack in Hungary and its adjacent areas and Silgan, G&M and CanPack in Germany and
its adjacent areas) with sufficient capacity to counteract any attempt by the merged entity
to increase prices.
Companies and products
Crown is a multinational company that manufactures various packaging products for
consumer goods (including aerosols, beverage packaging, food cans and metal closures).
Crown operates production plants worldwide.
Mivisa is headquartered in Spain and has production facilities also in Hungary, the
Netherlands, Morocco and Peru. It is primarily active in the manufacturing of tinplate food
cans, metal closures and stand-alone can ends.
Merger control rules and procedures
The Commission has the duty to assess mergers and acquisitions involving companies with a
turnover above certain thresholds (see Article 1 of the Merger Regulation) and to prevent
concentrations that would significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any
substantial part of it.
The vast majority of notified 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).
More information will be available on the Competition website, in the Commission's public case
register under the case number M.7104
Contacts :
Antoine Colombani (+32 2 297 45 13, Twitter: @ECspokesAntoine )
Marisa Gonzalez Iglesias (+32 2 295 19 25)
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