Electro Rent, a global business with its headquarters in the US, acquired Microlease in February 2017. Both companies were close competitors in the test and measurement rental market, supplying rental test equipment to industries such as telecommunications, defence, utilities and information technology.
The completed merger was referred to a group of independent panel members at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for an in-depth phase 2 investigation in October last year, after an initial phase 1 investigation identified competition concerns.
The group has now published its final decision, and has found that Electro Rent’s purchase of Microlease is likely to lead to a worse deal for renters of testing and measurement equipment.
They found that Electro Rent, though significantly smaller than Microlease in the UK, was the only other rental company operating in the country to have the resources and stock to compete effectively with Microlease and it was therefore concluded that it is likely the merger will lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the sector, and a worse deal for UK customers.
As a result the group has decided that the merged business will have to sell Electro Rent UK to a new owner, to be approved by the CMA, in order to preserve competition.
Commenting Simon Polito, the Inquiry Chair, said: “The merged business would be the only suitable UK supplier for a large number of customers. It is unlikely that the new company would be prevented from using its position to increase prices or reduce its quality of service to customers by new entrants or expansion of established companies.
“Having looked at this in detail and sought views from a range of market participants, we therefore consider that Electro Rent needs to sell its pre-merger UK business to preserve competition.
“We have set strict purchaser criteria to make sure the buyer will be able to operate the business to compete effectively before the CMA approves the sale.”