Coloplast deal goes through with undertakings

Competition Minister Melanie Johnson today announced that Coloplast should be required to renegotiate one of the elements of its completed acquisition of the continence care business of SSL on the recommendation of the Competition Commission and the advice of the Director General of Fair Trading (DGFT). The Competition Commission concluded that Coloplast's post-merger share of the health market would have increased from 34 to 92 percent, and that divestment of one of the acquired brands was necessary to remove any competition concerns. However, other concerns initially suggested by the DGFT, relating to vertical integration, independence of advice and to high markets shares in other product markets, were dismissed by the commission. Frontier (London) were economic advisers to Coloplast throughout the inquiry. The full report can be found here.