A full merger has been approved by the European Commission between Pakhoed and Van Ommeren. The proposed operation raised some serious competition issues but these have been overcome by the parties making divestiture commitments. Background Both companies are based in the Netherlands and are active in tank storage for crude oil, petroleum products, chemicals and vegoils, tanker shipping and other transport-related services. The affected markets are the following: storage of edible oils and fats (vegoil storage), storage of chemicals, storage of petroleum products, barging of chemicals in North West Europe. As regards the storage-related markets, the geographic areas where the merger will lead to significant overlap are limited to the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp range (ARA range) through the storage of vegoil and petroleum products, and the ARA range and the UK for the storage of chemicals. The geographic areas suggested by the notifying parties for the inland chemical tanker shipping is the Rhine Delta (the Netherlands and Belgium), Germany and Switzerland. If a separate market for integrated logistic services should be upheld, its geographical scope would be defined as follows: an international market for outbound transportation and a EU-wide market for inbound transportation. Assessment Within the ARA range, the parties are the largest suppliers of storage facilities and terminal services. The operation would result in market shares between 40% and 70% depending on the storage market considered. The merger would lead to the creation of the strongest player in the markets for storage and, in the absence of sufficiently large actual and potential competitors, the operation is likely to raise serious doubts as to its compatibility with the common market. The parties have submitted a divestiture package by which they propose to divest certain terminals to one or more purchasers. The package will include equipment and assets that are essential for the good functioning of the terminals. The purchaser will be a viable existing or prospective competitor independent of and unconnected to the parties and possessing the financial resources to continue the divested businesses. The Commission concluded that the overlap created by the merger in the ARA range for storage markets will be eliminated by these commitments. The combined market share and the limited overlap indicated that the operation will not result in the creation or strengthening of a dominant position in the storage of chemical products in the UK. The merger does not raise competition concerns in the market for barging of chemicals in North West Europe. On the basis of the above assessment and of the commitments proposed by the parties, the Commission approved the operation. (Case No. IV/M.1621, decision of 10.09.99)
