The Bundeskartellamt has cleared under merger control rules the formation of two hydrogen technology joint ventures between the VOITH Group (Heidenheim, Germany) and the Weifu High-Tech Group Co., Ltd (People’s Republic of China).

The joint ventures will be in charge of manufacturing hydrogen tanks for use in hydrogen storage systems for heavy-duty vehicles, and distributing such tanks and storage systems. One of the companies will operate in China, the other in the global market (excluding China).

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “The project could be cleared in the first phase of merger control. Hydrogen-based drive solutions for freight transport are still at a fairly early stage of commercialisation. The actual extent to which this market will grow as the transport sector is decarbonised remains to be seen and is currently the subject of much debate. This also depends on how competing technologies will develop and on the potential purposes for which such technologies can then be used. There are no indications that the proposed transaction is likely to raise competition concerns, not even when other products in the hydrogen value chain manufactured by Weifu are taken into account. The Weifu Group is not yet active in the storage systems sector itself.”

The competitive assessment did not identify any overlaps between the parties in terms of competition that could give rise to concerns. In addition, the effects the project could have along the value chain and in relation to other business areas were also analysed. In particular, it is not expected that competitors in the storage systems sector could be impeded, for example by foreclosure of supply.

Voith is a German industrial group with more than 22,000 employees and a turnover of more than 5 billion euros. More specifically, it offers machines and technologies for the energy, paper, raw materials and transport sectors. The Weifu Group is a Chinese automotive supplier with more than 7,000 employees. It is indirectly controlled by the Chinese state via the Wuxi Industry Development Group (WXIDG). WXIDG has 33 subsidiaries, holding companies and public institutions and 30 other shareholdings in the fields of (i) advanced manufacturing technologies, (ii) microelectronics, (iii) new energy, (iv) new materials, (v) environmental protection and (vi) modern services.