Bundeskartellamt clears acquisition of 44 Karstadt book departments by Weltbild and Hugendubel

DBH Warenhaus Medienvertriebs GmbH & Co.KG, a joint venture of Weltbild and Hugendubel, may take over 44 book departments of Karstadt Warenhaus AG. DBH is one of Germany’s largest bookstore chains with more than 400 outlets in the stationary bookselling sector.

Originally DBH had planned to take over 52 book departments in more than 40 cities. The Bundeskartellamt then conducted extensive investigations and interviewed more than 1000 booksellers and other companies in the regions concerned.

The surveys revealed that the project raised competition concerns in the cities of Kiel, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt and Munich. After the Bundeskartellamt issued a statement of objections the parties to the merger abandoned the project they had originally notified.

The following notification of a takeover of Karstadt book departments was limited to those cities which had been identified as unproblematic. This project could thus be cleared without delay.

In close coordination with the Bundeskartellamt the parties to the merger are now looking for a solution in line with the principles of competition for the Karstadt book departments in those cities where a takeover could not take place.