Bundeskartellamt clears Nagel-MUK-Transthermos merger

Bonn / DE. (bund) The German Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of MUK Beteiligung GmbH, Munich, by companies of the Nagel-Group, Versmold. Via its subsidiaries Transthermos GmbH and Transthermos Kontraktlogistik GmbH, MUK operates coldstores throughout Germany and also provides services for the transport of frozen foods. The Nagel Group operates under the name “Kraftverkehr Nagel” and mainly provides logistics services for fresh and frozen products.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: «We have carefully examined the takeover project as the merged company will become the market leader in frozen goods logistics and also gain a strong position in fresh produce logistics. However, the planned acquisition did not fulfil the conditions for a prohibition as our investigations have shown that there will still be sufficient competition in this market after the merger».

The merged company’s largest competitor, Nordfrost, along with other companies, will provide sufficient alternatives as logistics providers for frozen foods. This also applies to the groupage services segment for frozen foods which the Bundeskartellamt has examined in detail. In this service segment, goods are collected from different consignors and then delivered to different recipients. Groupage is a suitable means of transporting smaller consignments.

Furthermore, it is not expected that the improved combination of fresh and frozen goods logistics will enable the merged company to squeeze competitors out of the market. Finally, the Bundeskartellamt also examined whether the merged company will gain privileged access to sub-contractors (hauliers and freight capacity) in comparison to its competitors. Its investigations have not produced sufficient indication of this either.