Mundt: Will not be generous when examined – criticism of state participation in private companies.
The German Federal Cartel Office anticipates an increase in mergers in Germany in view of the corona pandemic. “The virus has set in motion an involuntary market consolidation in many industries,” said the Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt of the “Wirtschaftswoche”, according to a preliminary announcement on Thursday. By the end of 2020, the Cartel Office had “registered a growing number”. He therefore expects “a sharp increase in mergers” in the current year.
Depending on the industry, companies will find their way out of the crisis differently, predicted Mundt. There is a risk that “in some areas the intensity of competition will decrease”. Mundt expects decisions on so-called restructuring mergers: “My concern is that in the next few months we will also have to decide on mergers between companies and competitors threatened by bankruptcy that are sensitive to competition policy,” he told Wirtschaftswoche. This is always associated with high hurdles.
The President of the Cartel Office announced that it would proceed strictly with the tests despite the conditions made more difficult by Corona. “The pandemic will come to an end at some point, but merger control is permanent structural control. We cannot and must not be generous.”
Mundt was skeptical about the latest state holdings in private companies such as Lufthansa. “Of course, it has consequences for competition if companies can suddenly present the state as shareholders on the capital market and with banks – and their competitors not,” said the head of the cartel office in Wirtschaftswoche. Against this background, it is to be hoped that the state holdings entered into during the crisis will be limited in time.
