Europe approves acquisition of Alere by Abbott Laboratories
Staff Writer |
The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the acquisition of Alere by Abbott, both suppliers of clinical test systems.
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The decision is conditional on the divestment of Alere's Epoc and Triage tests, as well as Alere's BNP reagents business.
Abbott Laboratories and Alere Inc. are both U.S.-based companies active in in vitro diagnostics (IVD) systems.
These systems perform clinical tests outside the body using blood, urine or other samples.
The companies' activities are largely complementary, as Abbott has a broader portfolio of laboratory systems and Alere a focus on point of care. However, overlaps exist in particular for point of care analysers used in the testing of blood gases and cardiac markers.
The Commission found that the proposed merger would risk affecting the ability of Danaher, another supplier of IVD systems, to compete for laboratory systems running B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) tests. These tests are used to check for heart failure.
For the manufacturing and sale of the BNP test used on its laboratory machines, Danaher relies on Alere. As Abbott competes with Danaher in laboratory systems, it could have stopped selling BNP tests for Danaher's machines following the proposed merger.
This would have made Danaher's systems less attractive and decreased competition for certain laboratory systems.
In order to address the competition concerns identified by the Commission, Abbott offered to:
- fully divest Alere's global Epoc business, including its manufacturing site in Ottawa, Canada,
- fully divest Alere's global Triage business, including its manufacturing site in San Diego, US. This business also manufactures essential inputs for the production of BNP reagents for Danaher laboratory devices, which are included in the divestment, and
- fully divest the Alere BNP reagents business that commercialises a BNP test with Danaher.
The commitments fully address the Commission's competition concerns. The Commission therefore concluded that the proposed merger, as modified by the commitments, would no longer raise competition concerns. The decision is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments.
Given the global nature of the transaction and the commitments, the Commission cooperated closely with other competition agencies, including in particular the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau. ■