Mergers: Commission approves Konecranes’ acquisition of Terex’s crane and container handling business, subject to conditions

On the 8 August 2016, the European Commission cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the acquisition by Konecranes of Terex's crane and container handling business, MHPS.

The transaction had been notified to the European Commission on the 17 June 2016 and the preliminary investigation had found that the transaction would have created significant overlaps between Konecranes' and Terex's activities in the supply of electric chain hoists and wire rope hoists. Secondly, it had been revealed that the transaction would have risked significantly reducing effective competition in the markets, in particular in Germany and France. Finally, the customers had raised concerns about the risk of price increases. In order to address these concers, Konecranes proposed the commitments and the European Commission’s decision is thereby conditional.