Germany

European Commission: ISH / IESY Merger Referred to Federal Cartels Office

IRIS 2005-3:1/4

Carmen Palzer

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

On 15 February 2005, the European Commission referred the examination of the proposed acquisition of ISH GmbH & Co. KG and ISH KS NRW GmbH & Co. KG by Iesy Repository GmbH, which is itself owned by American firm Apollo Management V, lL.P. to the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartels Office).

The Cartels Office had requested that the merger be referred to it, since both companies operate solely in the German market. It must now investigate whether the merger will affect competition in the German cable TV market.