CADE clears Mobly’s acquisition of TokStok

On 29 August, the Office of the Superintendent General of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (SG/CADE) cleared Mobly’s acquisition of the controlling interest of TokStok.

The SG analysed a horizontal overlap on the furniture and home decor retail market and the vertical integration between Grupo Mobly road freight transport market (upstream) and the furniture and home decor retail market (downstream).

CADE compared the online retail market in “home and decor” to the competitive furniture and home decor environment. In addition, the SG investigated the furniture and home decor physical market in cities where Mobly and TokStok compete (Belo Horizonte, in the State of Minas Gerais, and Campinas, Ribeirão Preto, Santos, São José dos Campos, and São Paulo, in the State of São Paulo). Since Belo Horizonte and São Paulo are bigger cities, the authority also evaluated the stores located within five kilometres.

The SG concluded that the transaction would not harm competition because the market share of the companies is below the indicative level  of potential harm to competition, in accordance with Brazilian competition law. Thus, the acquisition was unconditionally cleared.

The decision of the Office of the Superintendent General of CADE is regarded final and the deal fully approved if the authority's Tribunal does not request the case for adjudication or a third party does not appeal to the ruling within 15 days of its announcement.