Two mergers of regional newspapers cleared

The Bundeskartellamt has cleared two mergers of regional newspapers in the first phase of merger control. Now the Ippen Group can take over Verlagsgesellschaft Vogelsberg GmbH & Co. KG, and Neue Pressegesellschaft mbH & Co. KG can take over Schwäbisches Tagblatt GmbH. Although the mergers cause competition problems, they could not be prohibited under merger control.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Both the takeover of Verlagsgesellschaft Vogelsberg by the Ippen Group and the takeover of Schwäbisches Tagblatt by Neue Pressegesellschaft are very problematic from a competition perspective. In both cases we are concerned that market dominance may occur in the respective circulation areas. However, we ultimately had to clear the mergers because the markets affected are so-called “minor markets” [Bagatellmärkte] with low turnovers. For mergers to be prohibited in the press sector, the total market volume must be at least 5 million euros. In recent years we have seen more and more cases of acquisitions of smaller newspapers that were not subject to notification or could not be prohibited.”

The mergers affected the reader and advertising markets in the greater Horb area (Swabia) and the reader market in the Vogelsbergkreis area (Hesse), respectively.

There are two regional dailies in the greater Horb area: “Neckar-Chronik”, which is published by Schwäbisches Tagblatt GmbH, and “Schwarzwälder Bote”, which belongs to Südwestdeutsche Medien Holding GmbH. The merger will strengthen the ties between the two publishing houses. This is because Neue Pressegesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, which is taking over Schwäbisches Tagblatt GmbH, is already mutually linked with Südwestdeutsche Medienholding, which publishes Schwarzwälder Bote (see also press release of 6 January 2023 regarding Zollern-Alb-Kurier). As a consequence, there is likely to be less competition between Neckar-Chronik and Schwarzwälder Bote.

In the Vogelsbergkreis area, there are significant overlaps between the circulation areas of Alsfelder Allgemeine and Oberhessische Zeitung. Both newspapers will be published by the Ippen Group in the future. There will be no competitors post-merger.

The mergers were cleared despite expected joint or single firm dominance because the turnovers achieved on the affected reader and advertising markets in the past calendar year were below the minor market threshold of 20 million euros (Section 36(1) sentence 2 no. 2 German Competition Act (GWB)). Merger control in the press sector applies a multiplier to press turnover, meaning that a total market volume of 5 million euros would have been sufficient for prohibiting the mergers, but the market volumes were even below this threshold in the present case.