The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the acquisition by the Spanish media group Planeta of joint control of the Spanish book club Círculo, currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann.
The Commission concluded that the acquisition would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
Under the proposed transaction, Planeta, a Spanish media group active in the production of cultural, news, educational and entertainment content, would acquire a controlling stake in Círculo, a company active in the sale of books to consumers through its book clubs in Spain. Círculo is currently owned by Bertelsmann, an international media company active in television, book publishing, magazine publishing, music rights management, distance selling, media services and media clubs. As a result of the transaction, Bertelsmann and Planeta would have joint control over Círculo.
Planeta and Círculo both publish and sell books to dealers and consumers in Spain. The Commission’s assessment showed that the proposed transaction would not give rise to any competition concerns on the Spanish markets for the acquisition of primary publishing rights, the sale of books to dealers, and the sale of books to consumers, regardless of the exact market definition. Planeta’s and Círculo’s combined market share remains in any case limited. The proposed transaction only leads to a small increment given Círculo’s marginal activities in the publishing and sale of books to dealers.
The Commission also assessed the vertical relationship between Planeta’s activities in the publishing and sale of books to dealers and Círculo’s book club business. The Commission found that this relationship was unlikely to raise any competition concerns, given Círculo’s limited and declining position on the market for the sale of books through its book clubs.
The Commission also found that the proposed transaction would not give rise to a risk of coordination between Círculo’s parent companies on the various markets for the publishing and sale of books to dealers in Spain given the limited part of Círculo in the revenues they each achieve in these sectors.
The concentration was notified to the Commission on 31 May 2010.
