In spring this year the Bundeskartellamt approved plans by Asklepios Kliniken Verwaltungsgesellschaft to acquire a stake of up to 10.1 % in Rhön-Klinikum AG, subject to a condition precedent. The concentration would have strengthened Asklepios' dominant position in the Goslar region. For this reason the Bundeskartellamt cleared the project subject to the condition that the Harzklinik hospital / Dr.-Herbert-Nieper-Krankenhaus and the medical care centre MVZ Harz, both operated by Asklepios, be sold to an independent hospital operator. Asklepios no longer intends to comply with this condition.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "The Asklepios Group has informed us that it no longer intends to sell the Goslar clinics. This means that the originally notified project is now prohibited. This is the first case we have dealt with in which the parties to a merger have decided after all not to comply with their own commitment which was undertaken in order to eliminate competition problems. Clearance subject to a condition precedent therefore becomes a prohibition."

Without prior approval by the competition authority Asklepios cannot acquire a stake in Rhön, not even a minority stake, that would enable the group to exercise a so-called competitively significant influence.

(for the initial Bundeskartellamt decision, cf. also press release of 14 March 2013)