The relevant merger-control notification submitted to the
European Commission was withdrawn on 5th June 2001. The Commission
had launched an in-depth investigation on 8th May. In particular,
it was the combination of TUI's and Neckermann's package-holiday
products and T-Online's internet services that gave rise to the
Commission’s concerns that the joint venture would have a dominant
position in the market.
T-Online, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is Germany's leading
supplier of internet-access services and operates one of the
country's most popular internet portals. TUI, a subsidiary of
Preussag AG, and Neckermann, jointly owned by Lufthansa AG and
KarstadtQuelle AG, are vertically integrated travel companies
offering tourism services which they organise themselves or supply
as intermediaries (flights, package holidays, last-minute deals and
hotel rooms, etc).
The new company was conceived as an online supplier of
leisure-travel services (in particular package holidays,
last-minute deals, flights, etc.)
The Commission's examination of the market concentrated primarily
on the risk that the new company might dominate the online travel
market and the possibility of market foreclosure for other on-line
suppliers.
The joint venture could have had privileged access, via its parent
companies TUI and Neckermann, Germany's leading tour operators, to
package-holiday products and, via T-Online, to a very large
potential customer base.
Other on-line travel companies are heavily dependent on the
products supplied by TUI and Neckermann and their brands. They
feared that the new company could have dominated the on-line
segment and that they would be discriminated against in the award
of agency contracts.
In addition, the Commission examined whether the joint venture
might also lead to the creation or strengthening of a dominant
position on the overall travel-agency market (comprising online and
traditional travel agents).
Now that the project has been withdrawn, the Commission will
terminate its investigations. T-Online has indicated that it is now
planning to develop its own on-line travel agency - a firm over
which it has sole control and in which TUI and Neckermann have a
smaller stake. This would not require notification under EU
merger-control legislation.
