Here are Frans’s comments on how the FCCA is moving Loihde’s BLC Turva acquisition to further investigation.
Loihde announced yesterday that the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (KKV) has decided to initiate a further investigation regarding the company’s BLC Turva acquisition, which would make the company Finland’s largest supplier of security technology. Based on the KKV’s preliminary review, the transaction may cause harmful competitive effects in the electronic security technology and structural security markets, particularly if competition is examined regionally. The further investigation can take a maximum of 69 working days (until April 22), in addition to which the Market Court can extend the period by a maximum of 46 working days. In our view, the move to further investigation was not very surprising, as the market share of the new entity could become significant on a regional level, as noted by the KKV.