Bundeskartellamt clears mergers of cash handling services (CIT) companies
Prosegur's acquisition of Brink's only cleared subject to conditions relating to the Berlin market

The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of Brink's Deutschland GmbH and Brink's Transport und Service GmbH by the Madrid-based company Prosegur Compania de Seguridad SA subject to conditions. The companies have undertaken to sell a substantial share of their business in the Greater Berlin area to third companies prior to the acquisition.

The acquisition of Unicorn Geld- und Wertdienstleistungen GmbH by Ziemann Sicherheit Holding GmbH could be cleared without any conditions or obligations.

Both mergers affect the markets for cash handling services. These services include inter alia the provision of cash to retailers, banks and their ATMs. Also included are cash processing services (counting, bundling, rolling, authentication). The total national market volume of cash handling services amounts to around half a billion euros.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "The merger between Prosegur and Brink's would have caused competition problems in the market for cash handling services in Greater Berlin. If we had accepted the companies' plans without conditions, more than 50% of the future Berlin turnover would have been achieved by Prosegur as the undisputed market leader. The obligation imposed on the parties to pass on some of their customer contracts in this region to strong competitors should provide for sustainable competition between competing suppliers. By contrast, Unicorn‘s acquisition by Ziemann did not present any problems."

The German cash services market is characterised by a highly diverse supply structure. There are currently local, regional and supra-regional suppliers as well as one single national supplier (Prosegur). A total of around 60 cash services suppliers are active in Germany, most of them regional or local companies.
The acquisition of Brink's by Prosegur would have led to the creation of a dominant position in Berlin. Brink's is the leading supplier in Berlin, followed by Prosegur. All other suppliers that are active in Berlin are mainly medium-sized and small companies, and some of them do not offer the complete range of cash handling services. Larger competitors are either not represented in Berlin or, if at all, only with minimal market shares.

In the Ziemann/Unicorn case the investigations have shown that neither the creation or strengthening of a dominant position nor any other significant impediment to effective competition was to be expected in any of the regional markets affected.