Brussels, 14 January 2025
The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of sole control of International Distribution Services Plc (‘IDS’) of the UK by EP Group, a.s. (‘EPCG’) of the Czech Republic. EPCG belongs to a group of companies (the ‘DK Group’) ultimately controlled by Mr. Daniel Křetínský, a Czech national.
The transaction relates primarily to postal and small package delivery services.
The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given its limited impact on competition in the markets where the companies are active.
In particular, the Commission examined the effects of the transaction on the markets for the provision of small package delivery services in the Netherlands, where IDS is active through its subsidiary GLS, and the DK Group is active through PostNL, which it controls. The Commission found that the transaction does not raise concerns in the Netherlands given that (i) the parties are not particularly close competitors to each other; (ii) following the transaction there will remain sufficient alternatives to the parties’ services to which customers could switch; and (iii) the entry of new competitors and the expansion by existing ones will remain possible.
The notified transaction was examined under the normal merger review procedure.
More information is available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.11625.