German Competition Authority Bundeskartellamt has approved merger between the cinema chains CinemaxX and Cinestar subject to the conditions.
The target companies, Edge Investments B.V., 2015 First Holding GmbH and Greater Union International GmbH, operate 53 cinemas in Germany and 51 of them under the "Cinestar" brand. The acquirer is the Vue Group which operates 31 cinemas in Germany and 30 of them under the "CinemaxX" brand. Bundeskartellamt found that 2 companies’ activities in local cinema viewer markets overlap in nine regions in Germany within the merger. There was no competition concerns regarding Berlin, Frankfurt and Hannover due to the presence of strong rivals whereas regarding the other 6 regions; Augsburg, Bielefeld / Gütersloh, Bremen, Magdeburg, Wuppertal / Remscheid and the western part of the Ruhr, Bundeskartallamt had competition concerns. The parties offered commitments for the Bundeskartellamt’s competition concerns, that they have undertaken to sell a cinema in each of the problematic markets. Accordingly Cinestar cinemas in Ausburg, Bremen, Gütersloh, Magdeburg and Remscheid and CinemaxX sinema in Mülheim/Ruhr would be sold to a competitor. Bundeskartellamt decided that these commitments are suitable for the concerns and approved the commitments. Based on these commitments Bundeskartellamt approved the acquisition of Cinestar by Vue Group.
In 2011, similar to Bundeskartellamt’s decision, TCA has approved the AFM/Mars merger subject to conditions in Turkish cinema industry. TCA identified 38 geographical markets in 4 provinces and in 5 of these micro markets significant competition problems were found. The parties offered 2 commitment packages covering the divestiture and/or closure of some cinemas on the purpose of the removal the competition concerns. TCA determined that the commitments were sufficient to address competition concerns and approved the merger. However subsequent to the acquisition, it was seen that the disposed of and closed cinemas were almost inactive ones and was far from meeting competition concerns. Hence in the Cinema Market Inquiry Report published by the Authority in the post-AF/MARS period high concentration and vertical integration in the in the Turkish cinema industry was highlighted.
(Bundeskartellamt Decision – 02.03.2020)