Press Release: Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of IBM’s retail store solutions business by rival Toshiba

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of IBM's retail store solutions business by Toshiba Tec, a majority owned subsidiary of the Japanese company Toshiba.

Retail solutions are integrated systems of hardware and software that are used for processing sales transactions by retail store customers. They are capable of connecting and interoperating with a retailer’s other IT and software systems and are therefore distinguished from electronic cash registers.

The Commission concluded that the transaction will not raise competition concerns because of the limited overlap between the parties' activities, in particular within the European Economic Area (EEA), and because the merged entity will face sufficient competition.