The President of Office of Competition and Consumer Protection gave its consent to Penta Investments to take control over Empik Media & Fashion. The transaction will not restrict competition.

The application for consent to the concentration was submitted to OCCP on 28 October. Penta Investments run a business relying on private equity investments, representing an external source of financing for unquoted companies. There are dozens of companies from Penta Group registered in Poland, which, inter alia, deal with: market research and public opinion research, production and sale of pharmaceutical preparations, betting operators or real estate development business.

Empik Media & Fashion is a holding company being a member of EMF Group, which operates mainly in the market for distribution of books and multimedia, inter alia, through Empik and online store empik.com.

The proposed concentration will lead to the acquisition of sole control of Empik Media & Fashion, over which Penta Investments holds joint control. The conducted investigation showed that the merger would not threaten the competition.

According to the law, a transaction must be notified to the anti-monopoly office if it involves enterprises whose total turnover in the preceding year exceeded EUR 1 billion globally or EUR 50 million in Poland.

Concentration clearances expire if a transaction is not effected within two years from the issue date. The website of the Office provides information on all anti-monopoly concentration proceedings currently conducted by the Office. More information on enterprise mergers can be found in a special study.

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