PostNL/Sandd

The Dutch competition authority ACM does not give permission for the planned acquisition of postal operator Sandd by PostNL (a successor of the former state-owned monopoly postal operator). The ACM concludes that the acquisition would “create in practice a monopolist in the postal delivery market” and “lead to a significant reduction of competition”.

At the request of the ACM, a CRA team consisting of Ian Small and Riemer Faber reviewed the market definition analysis and assessment done by the ACM in this case, specifically for the markets for bulk mail for businesses and single-piece mail.

The summary of the ACM decision can be found here in English and the decision of the ACM can be found here in Dutch.