Britain blocks US$5b Cargotec-Konecranes merger on competition concerns

[LONDON] Britain blocked a proposed merger between Finnish industrial machinery firms Cargotec and Konecranes Abp on Tuesday, after its competition watchdog found "substantial" competition concerns.

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said its in-depth probe found the US$4.95 billion merger would harm competition in the supply of many container handling products.

Konecranes and Cargotec, which announced a merger of equals in October 2020, compete closely in the UK.

"This loss of competition could have serious consequences for UK port terminals and other customers, including higher prices and lower quality products and services across a wide range of container handling products," CMA said in a statement.

The CMA's move comes one month after the European Union gave the deal conditional antitrust approval after the two Finnish companies in January offered to sell assets to address competition concerns.

Neither company immediately responded to Reuters' request for comment on the CMA decision on Tuesday. REUTERS