Brussels, 10 October 2023
The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of sole control of Oticon Medical’s cochlear implant business (‘Oticon Medical’) of Denmark by Cochlear Limited (‘Cochlear’) of Australia.
The Commission reviewed the transaction following a referral request by 13 countries of the European Economic Area pursuant to Article 22(1) of the EU Merger Regulation. This provision allows Member States to request the Commission to examine a merger that does not have an EU dimension but affects trade within the single market and threatens to significantly affect competition within the territory of the Member States making the request.
Following the referral, the transaction was partially blocked by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which prohibited the sale of one of the business divisions of the Oticon Medical business to Cochlear, while allowing the transfer of the other business division, namely Oticon Medical’s cochlear implant business. Therefore, the merging parties ultimately notified the sole acquisition of Oticon’s cochlear implant business by Cochlear.
The transaction relates to the hearing care sector, in particular to the market for cochlear implants.
The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given its limited impact on competition in the relevant market. 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.10966.
Source – EU Commission