Freudenberg Group can take over Heytex

The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the takeover of Heytex Bramsche GmbH by Freudenberg Performance Materials Holding GmbH. The merger brings together Heytex and Mehler, which are by far the two largest producers of coated technical textiles based in Germany.

Heytex, the target company, produces coated technical textiles. These products usually consist of PVC-coated polyester fabric, which is used, for example, for truck tarpaulins, silo covers, tents and various other applications.

The Freudenberg Group is a global manufacturer of technical products for a variety of applications, supplying the automotive and other industries. One of its members is Mehler Texnologies GmbH, which also produces and sells coated technical textiles.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “The two companies have strong market positions throughout Europe in individual areas of the products’ applications – but there are also other producers in all of these market segments. In addition, the investigations have shown that the same machines are used to produce the different products, and that competitors could react to changes in demand by switching production without much effort. It can be assumed that sufficient competitive pressure is exerted by third parties in the European Economic Area, which is the relevant area in this case. In various market segments Asian imports also had to be taken into account. Against this background the merger could be cleared.”