Press Release: Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of AD Cartonboard by Korsnäs

The European Commission on 12 May 2006 approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of AD Cartonboard by Korsnäs, both based in Sweden. Since the merger was to combine two leading European Economic Area (EEA) producers of liquid packaging board, the Commission’s market investigation focused on potential anti-competitive effects arising from a further reduction of competitors in an already highly concentrated market. The market investigation had, however, shown that due to the particularities of the liquid carton packaging board market, the remaining EEA suppliers would face strong competitive constraints and that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.