Hunter Douglas GmbH, Düsseldorf, decided to withdraw its notification to acquire erfal GmbH & Co. KG, Falkenstein/Vogtland, following competition concerns raised by the Bundeskartellamt.

erfal is a medium-sized company that manufactures insect screens, interior, and exterior window coverings.

Hunter Douglas is a global manufacturer of systems for interior window coverings and is vertically integrated in many countries, producing systems, fabrics, and made-to-measure products. In Germany, Hunter Douglas has only sold systems and fabrics to manufacturers, such as erfal.

The Bundeskartellamt's President, Andreas Mundt, highlighted concerns about Hunter Douglas potentially leveraging its dominant position in the market for interior window covering systems to disadvantage competitors and strengthen its own and erfal's market position.

The investigation revealed that fitters in Germany heavily rely on Hunter Douglas for systems, making it challenging for them to switch to alternative suppliers, limiting competition in the market.

Despite proposing to address the competition concerns by selling a group-owned systems manufacturer, Hunter Douglas withdrew this commitment at the end of March, leading to the abandonment of the acquisition.