The 56-year-old Swede’s plans to merge French plastics company Sidel into his Swiss-based Tetra Laval packaging group were foiled when Monti’s task force on competition decided that the E1.7 billion ($1.5 billion) deal would give Grosskopf’s company too much power in two markets. Tetra-Sidel joins GE-Honeywell and Schneider-Legrand on the growing list of merger proposals shot down by the EC as anticompetitive. The EC has been able to veto mergers since 1990, but irritation has grown sharply during Monti’s two-year reign as the commissioner overseeing competition.
“It is infuriating,” says Grosskopf, “especially since competitor complaints rather than customer complaints seem to drive the competition commission’s decisions.”
When Monti’s task force recommended in late October that the EC reject the Tetra-Sidel deal, Grosskopf - a former law professor - fired off a letter of complaint. “I didn’t expect them to necessarily overturn the recommendation,” he says, “but I did hope to start a debate.” The commissioners discussed his letter for about ten minutes before casting their unanimous votes. “It’s a beginning, at least,” notes Grosskopf.
