The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the planned acquisition of 50 percent of the shares in Braun Möbel-Center GmbH & Co. KG, Reutlingen, by Würzburg-based ABRD Möbelhandels- und Beteiligungs GmbH (a member of the Austrian XXXLutz Group).

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "We scrutinised the merger project and requested information from a large number of furniture retailers both in Germany and abroad. Our focus was on competition in the area of furniture stores. We have concluded that although XXXLutz will strengthen its market position through the merger, the parties remain in competition with a number of other furniture stores in all affected regions."

The XXXLutz Group operates over 350 stores in Germany, in some cases as a shareholder. These include furniture stores and an online shop under the XXXLutz umbrella brand as well as discount stores and online shops under the POCO, Roller and Mömax brands. The XXXLutz Group also operates furniture stores and online shops in other European countries, most notably in Switzerland.

Braun Möbel-Center GmbH & Co. KG, Reutlingen, is a regionally significant operator of furniture stores in south-west Germany. It owns nine locations in Baden-Württemberg and one in Saarland. Braun Möbel-Center's locations in Freiburg, Singen and Konstanz, which are close to the borders of France and Switzerland, respectively, are also frequented by customers from these countries.

The Bundeskartellamt examined the competitive conditions in the various regional furniture retail markets affected by the merger. The starting point for its investigations were the respective catchment areas of Braun's locations. The investigations have shown that the XXXLutz Group and Braun Möbel-Center each have a significant market position. Their joint share of the total market reaches up to one third in individual cases.

The Bundeskartellamt also looked into the furniture store segment in more detail. It includes furniture retailers focusing on mid-price items, among them products containing higher-quality materials like real wood, metal or real leather. They also offer individual choice options and a range of services (in particular expert advice, delivery and assembly). XXXLutz and Braun hold a higher joint share in this segment of the total furniture retail market in each of the various relevant regions than in the furniture retail market as a whole. However, the size of these shares does not give reason to expect a significant impediment of effective competition. Competing furniture stores in the relevant catchment areas also achieve considerable turnover, have a comprehensive range of products and offer customers an alternative to the merger parties. Besides the internationally active company Ikea and relevant online retailers, the list of competitors includes locally significant furniture retailers in the individual market areas.

A detailed case summary on this proceeding will be available shortly.