The Autorité de la concurrence unconditionally clears the acquisition of the Tryba group by the VKR Holding group

The parties to the transaction

VKR Holding is a Danish group that controls Velux and Dovista. Velux manufactures and supplies roof windows and sun tunnels. Dovista manufactures and sells vertical windows and exterior doors, as well as associated products such as panels for doors and vertical windows.

Tryba is a French group specialised in the manufacture, distribution and installation of vertical windows and exterior doors. It also distributes complementary joinery solutions manufactured by third parties, such as shutters for vertical windows, garage doors, gates, fences and, very marginally, roof windows, sold under the Tryba brand or third-party brands.

The markets concerned

The Autorité examined the consequences of the transaction of the roof window, vertical window and exterior door sector in France.

The Autorité was able to rule out any risk of harm to competition

The Autorité examined the horizontal effects of the transaction in respect of the manufacture and supply of vertical windows and doors, as well as the retail distribution of DIY and home improvement products. However, it did not identify any anticompetitive risks in the markets concerned, due in particular to the limited market shares of the companies concerned.

The Autorité also examined the vertical effects of the operation in respect of Tryba’s retail distribution activities, given Dovista’s presence on the upstream market for the manufacture and supply of vertical windows and doors, on the one hand, and Velux’s activities in the manufacture and supply of roof windows, on the other. However, it ruled out any risk of input foreclosure or access to customers, despite Velux’s strong positions on the roof window market. In fact, Tryba exclusively sells vertical windows and exterior doors that it manufactures itself. The transaction does not therefore raise any risk of the competitors of the companies concerned being shut out from those markets.

Lastly, the Autorité ruled out any risk of conglomerate effects from the implementation, by the new entity, of a bundling strategy combining vertical windows and roof windows, insofar as Tryba and Velux have very different customer bases.

At the end of its analysis, the Autorité therefore cleared the transaction without conditions.