Copper acquisitions attract EU scrutiny

The summer of 2018 has seen the European Commission (EC) open two investigations into whether proposed red metals production mergers may harm the sector’s competitive landscape.

According to an Aug. 1 online report from Reuters, EC antitrust regulators have opened an investigation into whether Germany-based Wieland Group’s bid for certain Aurubis assets may restrict choices for the firms’ customers. Wieland has arranged to buy the rolled products business unit of Germany-based Aurubis.

Those Aurubis assets include a plant in North Buffalo, New York, in the United States. That plant produces rolled copper, coiled wire, strip and plate at a capacity of up to 160,000 metric tons per year.

The EC investigation into the acquisition will be completed by Dec. 10, 2018, according to Reuters. The news agency quotes EC Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager as stating, “The proposed transaction would bring together the top two suppliers of copper rolled products in an industry that is already highly concentrated.”

In better news for Aurubis, in July it announced that Germany’s Bundeskartellamt (federal antitrust office) had authorized the planned acquisition by Aurubis of the outstanding shares of copper wire rod maker Deutsche Giessdraht GmbH and that the closing of that deal would take place July 31, 2018.

Also in July, the EC announced the opening of an investigation into German copper producer KME’s purchase of Mansfelder Kupfer und Messing (MKM), another Germany-based red metals company.

When the proposed acquisition was announced July 7, KME stated the aim of the €80 million ($92.6 million) transaction was to “strengthen the performances of both companies through the implementation of synergies.”