Bundeskartellamt stops intended acquisition
 of Brunata/Minol by E.ON subsidiary Viterra Energy

The Bundeskartellamt has prohibited the intended acquisition by Viterra Energy Services AG (belonging to the E.ON group, Düsseldorf) of the companies Minol Messtechnik W. Lehmann GmbH & Co. KG, Brunata Wärmemesser Werner Lehmann GmbH & Co. KG and Brunata Wärmemesser Gmbh based in Leinfelden-Echterdingen and Stuttgart, respectively.

The companies involved operate in the area of consumption-based metering and billing of heating and hot water costs.

The President of the Bundeskartellamt, Ulf Böge, stated: “According to the Bundeskartellamt’s findings, Viterra and the market leader, Techem AG, Frankfurt, already had joint dominance of this market before the merger. As a result of the merger the two companies would have a joint market share of nearly 60 per cent and thus would have further strengthened their market positions. This would, on the one hand, have been to the detriment of many small competitors. On the other hand, leeway for raising prices could emerge in the relevant market which would then have a higher level of concentration. This would have negative effects on incidental rental expenses."