Portugal approves Vanderlande Industries acquisition of Siemens Logistics

The Portuguese Competition Authority (AdC) has approved the acquisition of Siemens Logistics by Vanderlande Industries, a subsidiary of the Toyota Group. The deal, valued at 300 million euros, was finalized last year but required regulatory clearance.

The AdC decided not to oppose the concentration, stating that the merger is not likely to create significant impediments to effective competition in the national market or any substantial part of it. This decision concludes a global regulatory process regarding the highly concentrated market for automated airport baggage handling systems (BHS).

The move follows a complaint by the German company Beumer, which argued that the acquisition should have been notified to Portuguese and Spanish authorities due to specific market share thresholds. The acquisition effectively reduces the number of major global operators in this specialized sector to two.