The European Commission has approved Allianz SE’s acquisition of sole control of France’s Poseidon Holdco S.A.S. and its subsidiaries, known as the Ingenico Group.
The deal involves a business that makes and supplies point-of-sale payment terminals — the card machines used by retailers and other merchants — as well as related payment-acceptance services.
The Commission said it cleared the transaction under the EU Merger Regulation, the framework used to assess whether large mergers could harm competition in the EU.
It concluded the deal would not raise competition concerns because Allianz and Ingenico are not active in the same markets or in vertically related markets — where one company supplies goods or services used by the other.
Simplified review
The case was examined under the Commission’s simplified merger review procedure, which is typically used for transactions unlikely to raise competition issues.
Further details are available in the Commission’s public case register under reference M.12601.
