The Bundeskartellamt has today cleared the acquisition of DDV Mediengruppe GmbH & Co. KG by Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack GmbH & Co. KG.

The merger concerns the reader and advertising markets in the greater Dresden area and the city of Döbeln in central Saxony. Both DDV (“Sächsische Zeitung”, “Döbelner Anzeiger”) and Madsack (“Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten”, “Döbelner Allgemeine Zeitung”) distribute regional newspapers there.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “The takeover of DDV by Madsack in its current shareholding structure could have led to the monopolisation of the reader and advertising markets in Dresden and Döbeln. However, Madsack will sell both “Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten” and “Döbelner Allgemeine Zeitung” as well as the advertising newspaper “SachsenSonntag” to an independent third party, which is why we were able to clear the merger.”