The Competition Authority has blocked the planned €87 million acquisition by building materials group Kingspan of insulation board manufacturer Xtratherm, it said today.
Kingspan, maker of energy-efficient building products, agreed in June to buy the Ireland and UK-based company.
"The Competition Authority ... has decided to block the proposed acquisition of Leanort Group (Xtratherm) by Kingspan Group on the grounds that such a transaction would substantially lessen competition in the manufacture and provision of insulation materials in the State," Kingspan said today in a statement.
The ruling follows a four-month market investigation by the Authority's Mergers Division and is only the second time the Authority has blocked a proposed merger since provisions on merger control came into effect in January 2003. The first case involved IBM and Schlumberger in October 2004.
Kingspan said it was disappointed by a decision it did not believe was supported by the evidence produced by Kingspan and Xtratherm in their arguments and submissions to the regulator.
"Kingspan in consultation with the vendors will study the written determination of the Authority and take advice from its lawyers, before deciding whether or not to appeal the decision to the High Court," it said in a statement.
Shares in Kingspan dipped initially to trade as much as 3.3 per cent lower at €15.99 but recovered much of their lost ground, trading 1.1 per cent lower at €16.37 euros earlier compared to an 0.5 per cent rise in the ISEQ Index.