Payments
Feds file antitrust suit to halt Crane Composites sale
March 18, 2022
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil lawsuit to stop Monterrey, Mexico-based Grupo Verzatec S.A. de C.V. from acquiring its biggest competitor, Crane Composites, a wholly owned subsidiary of Crane Co., the parent company of Crane Merchandising Systems and Crane Payment Innovations.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that the proposed $360 million transaction would harm competition in production and sale of pebbled fiberglass reinforced plastic wall panels, whose product and performance characteristics make it the wall covering of choice for many restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals and convenience stores across the U.S., according to a statement on the department's website.
Crane Co. said it expected to engage with the Department of Justice and Verzatec to address the antitrust concerns regarding what it claims was a minor overlap in a narrow range of material used in certain commercial building applications, according to a company press release.
