The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of 49 per cent of the shares in AWISTA Gesellschaft für Abfallwirtschaft und Stadtreinigung GmbH (“AWISTA”) and of 51 per cent of the shares in ATG & Rosendahl GmbH & Co. KG (ATG&R) by Remondis, the largest German waste management company, without any obligations. The remainder of the shares in AWISTA and ATG&R are held by the City of Düsseldorf. AWISTA has the power of disposal over capacities at the waste incineration plant in Düsseldorf. ATG&R operates treatment and sorting facilities for various waste fractions. Both companies are active in North Rhine Westphalia only.

The President of the Bundeskartellamt, Ulf Böge, stated: “Despite the fact that Remondis will strengthen its market leadership in several waste markets in North Rhine Westphalia the merger did not raise any competition concerns because Remondis’ market shares will not exceed the market share thresholds of one third above which dominance is assumed.” Before the merger Remondis had withdrawn from syndicates in the affected markets for the collection and transport of waste.

The market for the incineration of residual waste had to be defined in terms of several regional markets due to the relevant waste directives in place in the administrative districts of NRW. In the Düsseldorf Administrative District, for example, only Neuss Rhine District and the City of Mönchengladbach have the choice between the incineration plant in Düsseldorf and the one in Krefeld. Prior to the merger project under examination the waste disposal company EGN - Entsorgungsgesellschaft Niederrhein mbH had an interest in both incineration plants. The merger will not have a negative impact on market structures for the users of these facilities because both incineration plants at disposal now have two different owners. As for all other users, which due to current waste disposal plans can consider the incineration plant in Düsseldorf among others in their choice options, Remondis will be able to increase its market leadership as a result of the merger. However, a large incineration contingent at the Düsseldorf plant will remain with EGN, so that also here too Remondis’ share of the market will not exceed one third.

In the market for the incineration of commercial waste in North Rhine Westphalia, Remondis will gain slightly larger market shares, which will, however, amount to just under one third of the market. Here too the merger was not expected to create or strengthen a single-firm dominance or result in oligopolistic dominance. Consideration was taken of the fact that after the merger a larger incineration contingent at the Düsseldorf plant would remain with EGN and that considerable expansion in the capacities of several waste incineration plants is foreseen in the short term. Even assuming that the largest companies would constitute an uncompetitive oligopoly in this market, the merger would not strengthen its market position because only market shares have been exchanged between the two oligopolists, Remondis and EGN.