MERGERS: AMO SR approved the merger of undertakings Ringier AG and Ringier Axel Springer Media AG

AMO SR approved a merger grounded in the change of control quality over company Ringier Axel Springer Media AG.

On 7 September 2021 the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic, the Division of Concentrations, (hereafter “the Office“) approved a merger grounded in the change of control quality over company Ringier Axel Springer Media AG, the Switzerland from the joint control by undertakings Ringier AG, the Switzerland (hereafter “Ringier“) and Axel Springer International Limited, Great Britain to the exclusive control by undertaking Ringier.

In view of the above, it was a non-problematic merger and since the Act No. 187/2021 Coll. on Protection of Competition in effect since 1 June 2021 enshrined the possibility of issuing a decision in simple cases without justification, the Office used the institute in the given case.

By issuing an approving decision on the merger without justification, the Office expresses its effort to assess more efficiently and faster transactions that are competitively non-problematic and to save resources and capacities on the part of the Office as well as the undertakings concerned.

The decision came into force on 10 September 2021.