Bundeskartellamt clears acquisition of Elmshorner Nachrichten by Schleswig-Holsteiner Zeitungsverlag

In second phase proceedings the Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of the subscription daily Elmshorner Nachrichten and the advertising newspaper Die Woche im Blickpunkt by the publishing house Schleswig-Holsteiner Zeitungsverlag sh:z, a subsidiary of medien holding:nord. Up to now the two publications were owned by the Axel Springer AG group. The proposed merger was cleared by applying the so-called balancing clause. In the Bundeskartellamt’s view the market structure improvements on the reader market in Elmshorner Nachrichten's circulation area resulting from the merger outweigh any possible negative impact on the advertising and reader markets in the Steinburg district.

The merger project affects several reader markets for subscription dailies and several advertising newspapers in the Pinneberg and Steinburg districts in Schleswig-Holstein. In these districts the publishing companies belonging to medien holding:nord already publish the dailies Pinneberger Tageblatt (including the local editions of Quickborner Tageblatt and Schenefelder Tageblatt), Wedel-Schulauer Tageblatt, Barmstedter Zeitung and Norddeutsche Rundschau/Wilstersche Zeitung and the advertising newspapers Pinneberger tip, Wedel-Schulauer tip, Mittwoch am Samstag and Hallo Steinburg.

The distribution area of Elmshorner Nachrichten, mainly the town of Elmshorn and the surrounding area, is currently dominated by Axel Springer AG, which publishes the two dailies Elmshorner Nachrichten and Pinneberger Zeitung. With the acquisition of Elmshorner Nachrichten by Schleswig-Holsteiner Zeitungsverlag sh:z, Axel Springer AG's market position passes over to medien holding:nord. This consequently weakens Axel Springer AG’s previous dominant position in the region. As a result of the change in ownership of Elmshorner Nachrichten the major and secondary newspapers in the area will in future be published by two different financially strong publishers and will no longer remain in one hand. It can be assumed that these structural improvements will directly help to stimulate competition in the area.

In applying the “balancing clause”, whereby the authority carries out an overall appraisal of the competition conditions, the Bundeskartellamt found that the significant improvements to competition in the reader market in Elmshorner Nachrichten's circulation area (improved market) outweigh any possible negative impact on competition in the reader and advertising markets in Norddeutsche Rundschau’s circulation area (impaired markets). The project could strengthen the dominant position of medien holding:nord on the two latter markets due to the elimination of potential competition from Elmshorner Nachrichten. In applying the balancing clause particular attention had to be paid to the elimination of potential competition due to the high concentration on the impaired markets. However, the merger project will not cause a complete elimination of competition. With the Pinneberger Zeitung, whose circulation area borders on the impaired markets, the presence of the financially strong Axel Springer AG as a potential competitor is retained. Outweighing this, however, are far more significant improvement effects in that the merger will directly create competition throughout Elmshorner Nachrichten's area of circulation.

medien holding:nord is the financially strong publisher of a number of regional subscription dailies and as such is deemed an equal competitor to Axel Springer AG.

President Dr Bernhard Heitzer stated: “In spite of interest-influenced criticism of our decision practice in media merger control, today’s decision of a media merger case involving neighbouring geographic markets shows again that existing competition law is flexible enough to take full consideration of the specific circumstances of each individual case in order to come to an appropriate decision”.