The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) approved on 2 November 2018 the acquisition of the entire share stock of Itäkeskus Holding Oy and Wereldhave Finland Oy by Lakeside Aurora Oy. The FCCA has concluded that the acquisition will not significantly impede effective competition on the Finnish market.
Lakeside Aurora Oy is a company established for the acquisition. It is owned by real estate investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing.
The business operations of Itäkeskus Holding Oy, its subsidiary Kauppakeskus Itäkeskus Oy, and Wereldhave Finland Oy consist of the leasing, management and maintenance of Itis shopping centre.
The FCCA has concluded that the acquisition will not significantly impede effective competition on the Finnish market. The acquisition will not have horizontal effects on the real estate investment market, because the combined market share of the parties is very low. The Finnish real estate investment market has many competitors that are larger than the consolidation of these three companies.
The FCCA’s decision includes business secrets of the parties involved. The decision will be published once the business secrets have been removed.
Further information:
- Research Officer Taru-Tuulia Tammi, tel. +358 (0)29 505 3024, email: firstname.lastname@kkv.fi.
According to the Competition Act, the FCCA must be notified of the transaction if the combined turnover of the parties to the corporate transaction exceeds 350 million euros and the turnover from Finland of at least two of the parties exceeds a combined total of 20 million euros. The FCCA will approve a corporate transaction if it has none of the harmful impacts referred to in the Competition Act. The FCCA will intervene in corporate transactions if its investigations suggest that the acquisition substantially impedes effective competition on Finnish markets or a substantial part of the markets, particularly through the creation or reinforcement of a dominant market position.