The U.S. competition authorities gave their approval to the merger between Amer and Salomon in August, but the proceedings with the European Commission were a bit more in-depth. The European Commission finally cleared the merger under EU Merger Regulations, but not without a caveat. While the transaction is expected to close within the next week, the Commission's clearance is conditional upon “substantial modifications” of the current cooperation agreement between Salomon and Fischer.
According to the EC, Salomon and Fischer GmbH are currently the leading manufacturer of cross-country skis in the world. The two companies entered into a cooperation agreement in 1997 which has intensified over the years. As a result of the merger between Salomon and Amer, this relationship between Salomon and Fischer would have been extended to Amers Atomic subsidiary. Atomic is Fischers main competitor in cross-country skis in Austria, Germany, and France. This gave rise to the risk of a coordinated market conduct of the leading players in these markets.
“Consolidation in the skiing equipment industry cannot be allowed to lead to higher prices, lower quality or less innovative products. However, the commitments given by Amer will ensure that the merged entity will face sufficient competition pressure in all winter sport equipment markets,” Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said. To address the ECs concerns, Amer and Salomon have agreed to this “significant reduction” of the scope of the cooperation agreement between Fischer and Salomon. In particular, the companies will no longer coordinate commercial strategies and certain clauses that “limit the independent market conduct” of Fischer will be removed.
