Vj-108/2000/12
ACQUISITION OF CONTROL BY FORD MOTOR COMPANY OVER LAND ROVER GROUP LTD
I.
The Competition Council cleared the acquisition of control over Land Rover Group Ltd by Ford Motor Company.
The Ford Motor Company seated in the US has three 100 per cent owned subsidiaries in Hungary.
Ford Motor Hungária Kft. supplies cars and small and medium sized vans. Its turnover in 1999 was 64.5 billion HUF (app. 245.25 million EUR)
Ford Credit Hungária Rt. grants financial services (credit, leasing, factoring). The ten per cent of its total assets was 961 million HUF (app. 3.65 million EUR)
Volvo Autó Hungária Kft. supplies Volvo cars in Hungary. Its annual turnover was 6.4 billion HUF (app. 24.33 million EUR) in 1999.
The Land Rover Group Ltd was established by the internal reorganisation of Rover Group Ltd. (owned by BMW). The new entity`s task is the manufacturing of four-wheel drived jeeps.
The premises of the Land Rover branch are in the United Kingdom but it has subsidiaries in several countries as well.
It has no shares in any Hungarian firm, but through its export it reached a turnover of 854.2 million HUF (app. 3.25 million EUR).
In 24 May 2000, BMW sold the 100 per cent of the shares of the Land Rover branch to Ford.
As the parties` turnover reached the threshold established by the Competition Act, the Ford Motor Company had to ask for the authorisation of the Competition Council.
In its application Ford argued that the acquisition of control will not have substantial effect on the Hungarian car market as their combined market share is not significant and that the merging companies have complementary activities. Therefore the merger does not create or strengthen a dominant position on the relevant market and does not jeopardise effective competition. Ford enclosed the decision of the Commission of the European Communities that unconditionally cleared the acquisition of control.
October 13, 2000. Budapest
Fógel Jánosné dr. sk. előadó
dr. Györffy István sk.
dr. Sólyom Eszter sk.
Ágoston Marika