Danish Competition Council approves JYSK’s acquisition of IDEmøbler and ILVA

JYSK Holding A/S, which is owned by Lars Larsen, owns the two furniture retail chains JYSK and Bolia. JYSK has 95 stores across the country and is also present abroad. Bolia has 7 stores.

IDdesign A/S owns the two furniture retail chains IDEmøbler and ILVA. IDEmøbler is nationwide and has 34 stores and ILVA has 6 stores.

Both JYSK and IDdesign are active on the separate retail markets for (i) furniture, (ii) beds and mattresses, (iii) garden furniture and (iv) furniture fabrics and accessories and (v) lighting. However, given the individual and combined market shares of the parties, only the markets for (i) furniture, (ii) beds and mattresses and (iii) garden furniture could possibly give rise to concerns.

Based on analyses of market shares and HHI, illustrative price rises and potential competition the DCC finds that JYSK’s acquisition of IDdesign will not significantly impede effective competition in the markets affected by the acquisition compared to the counterfactual scenario, which most likely is bankruptcy of IDdesign.

Although the acquisition may increase concentration in the market, the analyses showed that the counterfactual scenario – bankrutpcy and market exit for IDdesign – would be more harmful to competition than the merger.