Bundeskartellamt clears takeover of Lehmanns by Thalia

The Bundeskartellamt has today cleared the proposed acquisition of the specialist literature provider Lehmanns by the book retailer Thalia. With over 380 bookshops, Thalia is by far the largest bookstore chain in Germany. Lehmanns is mainly active as a provider of specialist literature for professional clients (universities, libraries, companies) and also operates 15 specialist bookstores in several German university towns.

The acquisition particularly affects the provision of specialist literature for professional clients in the areas of science/technology/medicine and law/business/taxation, book retailing and the procurement of books. In the final analysis the merger project is not expected to significantly impede effective competition on any of the markets actually affected. The Bundeskartellamt based its assessment among other things on the specific characteristics of and development in the specialist literature provision sector.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Increasing digitalisation, the growing importance of direct sales by large publishers and the shift to open access publications have caused fundamental changes in this market. Specialist literature providers and their additional services are therefore faced with huge challenges in some areas and vis-a-vis some professional clients and publishing houses. During the merger proceeding several market participants emphasized that specialist literature providers have to be of a certain size to be able to survive in and stabilize the market.”

In book retailing the turnover of Lehmanns specialist bookstores is comparatively low and final customers have sufficient alternative brick-and-mortar and online bookstores to choose from. When assessing the procurement side the Bundeskartellamt had to take account of the key significance of direct sales by publishers and international publications in the area of specialist literature. It was therefore possible to clear the planned acquisition in the first phase of merger control.