On 15 May 2026, the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC), in Chamber sitting, unanimously approved, by its decision No. 910/2026, the concentration concerning the acquisition of sole control by “OSMOSIS BUYERS Ltd”, member the Culligan Group of Companies (“CULLIGAN”), over “EFODIASTIKI KATANALOTIKI AGATHON S.A.”, with the distinctive title “RAINBOW WATERS”, and “ROI AGATHON METAFORIKI S.A.”, within the meaning of Article 5 (2-b) of Law 3959/2011.
In its decision, the HCC held that the above concentration, which concerns the market for the production and supply of water treatment solutions (upstream market) and the market for the marketing/distribution of water treatment products (downstream market), although falling within the scope of Article 6 (1) of the Law 3959/2011 (Greek Competition Act), it does not raise serious concerns as to its compatibility with competition rules in the individual markets concerned.
In particular, the HCC held that the relevant geographic market for the production and supply of water treatment solutions is worldwide and that the relevant geographic market for the marketing/distribution of water treatment products market is the Greek territory. The HCC also concluded that there are no horizontal overlaps between the parties’ activities and, therefore, no horizontally affected markets, while there are vertical links between the parties’ activities, as CULLIGAN operates in the upstream market for the production and distribution of Bottled Water Coolers (BWC), Bottle-Free Coolers (BFC) and Under-the-Sink (UTS) systems, which are input products for RAINBOW WATERS’ marketing activities.
As is evident from the substantive assessment of the concentration in the vertically affected markets resulting therefrom, namely (a) the market for the manufacture and supply of BWC and related consumables and spare parts, and (b) the market for the manufacture and supply of BFC and related consumables and spare parts, the HCC has concluded that the concentration will not lead to non-coordinated effects and will not impede effective competition in the vertically related markets concerning BWC and BFC equipment, while it will not lead to any coordinated effects in the markets concerned, to which the vertical relationships examined pertain.
Therefore, taking into account the impact assessment in terms of a possible input or customer foreclosure of competitors as a result of the concentration, the HCC held that the proposed transaction is not expected to significantly impede competition in the aforementioned upstream and downstream markets for the supply of BWC and BFC water treatment products.