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European Regulators Say Selecta Must Divest Finland Operations To Clear Way For Pelican Rouge Acquisition

BRUSSELS -- The European Commission has cleared Swiss vending and office coffee service giant Selecta Group 's acquisition of , another large operation. The Commission's clearance is conditional on the divestiture by Selecta of all vending service activities in Finland. Terms were not disclosed. Selecta, founded in 1957, reportedly operates more than 132,000 vending machines in 15 countries and serves more than six million consumers daily. Headquartered in Dordrecht, Netherlands, Pelican Rouge operates i...

August 29, 2017 by Emily Jed

BRUSSELS -- The European Commission has cleared Swiss vending and office coffee service giant Selecta Group's acquisition of , another large operation. The Commission's clearance is conditional on the divestiture by Selecta of all vending service activities in Finland. Terms were not disclosed.

Selecta, founded in 1957, reportedly operates more than 132,000 vending machines in 15 countries and serves more than six million consumers daily. Headquartered in Dordrecht, Netherlands, Pelican Rouge operates in eight European countries and says it has more than 150,000 clients. It also owns and operates a roasting facility that supplies coffee for its own vending and OCS routes and OCS, and to third parties.

The Commission has regulatory authority to review mergers and acquisitions involving companies with revenue above certain thresholds to prevent anticompetitive practices. It examined the effects of the proposed transaction in the vending market and its sub-segments at the national level where activities of Pelican Rouge and Selecta would overlap, notably in Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway and the UK.

It concluded that the proposed merger would not lead to unfair competition in the market for vending services, including any potential segmentation, in any of these countries with the exception of Finland.

In Finland, according to the Commission's analysis, anticompetitive effects would likely arise in the market for full-line vending services (including the segment for hot beverages provided by full-service providers) and in the overall vending market due to the companies' high combined market share.

To address the Commission's competition concerns, Selecta offered to divest all of its vending activities in Finland. The divestment will entirely remove the overlap between Selecta and Pelican Rouge in Finland and restore the same level of competition as before to the proposed transaction, according to the Commission.