Bundeskartellamt concentrates on examinining Holtzbrinck / Berliner Verlag case

On 10 October 2003 two separate notifications were submitted to the Bundeskartellamt, one for the planned acquisition of the Tagesspiegel daily by Dr. Pierre Gerckens and the other for the planned takeover of the Berliner Verlag publishing house by the Holtzbrinck-Group. Both projects are closely connected with one another, a fact which was also confirmed by the participating parties themselves. This becomes clear, amongst others, from the agreement between Holtzbrinck and Gerckens, which states that the sale of the Tagesspiegel to Gerckens will only be effected if nothing under competition law stands in the way of the takeover of Berliner Verlag by Holtzbrinck.

In the sale of the Tagesspiegel to Gerckens the Bundeskartellamt sees a concentration which is subject to merger control but does not in itself fulfil the preconditions for prohibition. For this reason it has decided to clear this merger project and to simultaneously begin a detailed examination (main examination proceedings) in the case of the planned Holtzbrinck / Berliner Verlag takeover.

The President of the Bundeskartellamt, Dr Böge, stated: “In so deciding the Bundeskartellamt has focussed on the core question as to whether the Tagesspiegel can still be classified as belonging to the Holtzbrinck Group. If this were the case the acquisition of Berliner Verlag by Holtzbrinck would correspond to the original merger project which has already been examined by the Bundeskartellamt. In the Holtzbrinck / Berliner Verlag case the Bundeskartellamt will deal intensively with, among other things, the question whether Tagesspiegel still belongs to Holtzbrinck and consider all aspects relevant for the evaluation of the merger project, including the existing call option for the Tagesspiegel.  The main examination proceedings can as a rule be expected to take three months.”