No competition worries
The European Commission (EC) has cleared the acquisition of Horizon Technology Group by giant US distributor Avnet, which was first proposed in April.
Horizon services the enterprise market as either a system integrator (SI) itself, or as a distributor to other SIs. Avnet mainly specialises in value-add distribution to enterprise and SMB focused SIs and VARs.
At the start of June, the EC had indicated that it wasn’t sure whether the deal would adversely affect competition in the markets the two companies both service, but after a few weeks of deliberation it has decided it won’t. “The Commission concluded that the concentration would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it,” said its statement.
“Even though the merger would create the strongest player in these markets, the Commission's investigation identified a number of elements which led it to the conclusion that anti-competitive effects are unlikely to occur,” it continued.
“A number of other wholesale distributors will exercise competitive constraints on the merged entity as well as manufacturers of IT products and software producers who sell their products directly to resellers and retailers, thus bypassing the wholesalers.”
