Brussels, 29 August 2023
The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of joint control of Universo IME S.A. by Sonae SGPS S.A., both of Portugal, and Bankinter Consumer Finance E.F.C. S.A. (‘BKCF’) of Spain.
Universo IME is active in payment services to consumers, credit intermediation for consumer loans granted by third parties as well as in merchant acquiring services for retailers. Sonae is primarily active in food and non-food retail as well as in consumer finance and insurance. BKCF is mainly active in retail banking.
The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the limited horizontal overlaps and vertical links between the activities of Sonae and BKCF in the European Economic Area. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.
More information is available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.11130.
Source – EU Commission