Merger of wholesalers of automotive spare parts cleared subject to conditions precedent

After an in-depth examination the Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of Trost Auto Service Technik SE, Stuttgart, by Wessels & Müller SE, Osnabrück, subject to conditions. Both companies sell product ranges comprising so-called 'independent' automotive spare parts through their branch networks. Their customers are mainly independent garages which are not tied to a specific manufacturer, petrol stations and larger companies which have their own repair service facilities.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "The takeover of the branches of its competitor Trost would have made Wessels & Müller the market leader in the regional markets of Braunschweig, Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Heilbronn, Magdeburg and Stuttgart with a clear lead over its other competitors. The results of our survey among competitors and customers as well as our market analysis have shown that the takeover would have significantly affected competition between the wholesalers in these regions. We had to avoid the risk of Wessels & Müller's market power creating disadvantages for independent garages and their customers. In order to exclude this restriction of competition we ultimately cleared the planned merger subject to the condition precedent that the parties first of all sell branches based in the regional markets mentioned above to an independent third party. Furthermore, Wessels & Müller has undertaken to leave the purchasing cooperation Auto Teile Ring in which it has so far been a member together with its strongest competitor in Germany, Stahlgruber Otto Gruber AG."

Independent garages rely on the product range offered by local wholesalers. These ensure the supply from a comprehensive range of independent spare parts several times a day for all brands and types of vehicles. Suppliers of original spare parts as well as tyre and glass specialists are at best able to replace the supply by wholesalers in some specific areas as they exclusively offer spare parts from one specific automotive manufacturer or merely partial product ranges.

Preconditions for a prohibition of the merger were not found to exist on the other regional markets affected by the merger. Some of the markets examined were so-called de minimis markets pursuant to Section 36 (1) sentence 2 no. 2 of the German Competition Act (GWB). In these markets a merger cannot be prohibited.