Fair Trade Commission approves 'VI Partners-Freed Life' and 'Boram Sangjo Development-Veterans Association Sangjo' mergers... "No concerns over competition restriction"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced on the 19th that it responded on the 15th and 10th of last month, respectively, that there is no concern of restricting competition in the relevant market after reviewing the acquisition of shares of FreedLife by VI Partners and the acquisition of shares of the Veterans Association Funeral Service by Boram Sangjo Development.

VI Partners signed a contract on April 6 this year to acquire 88.89% of FreedLife's shares and filed a business combination report with the KFTC on April 29.

VI Partners is a company engaged in investment business and operates funeral service businesses through three affiliates: Good Life, Geumgang Culture Hub, and Modern Comprehensive Funeral Service. FreedLife, as of the end of September 2019, is the industry leader in the funeral service business based on advance payments.

Boram Sangjo Development signed a contract on March 4 this year to acquire 100% of the shares of the Veterans Association Funeral Service and filed a business combination report with the KFTC on April 3. As of the end of September 2019, Boram Sangjo Development and its affiliates rank second in the industry based on advance payments, operating four funeral service businesses: Boram Sangjo Development, Boram Sangjo Life, Boram Sangjo People, and Boram Sangjo Anycall.

The KFTC reviewed the impact of these two business combinations on competition in the funeral service market, where the merging companies and their affiliates operate. As a result, although these combinations involve the industry’s first and eighth largest companies and the second and fifth largest companies based on advance payments as of September 2019, the market concentration resulting from the combinations is not high, and considering that about 86 companies competed in the relevant market as of September 2019, the KFTC judged that there is no concern of restricting competition in the relevant market.

A KFTC official stated, "Although we judged that these business combinations do not raise concerns about restricting competition, we plan to continuously monitor whether there is any risk of consumer harm."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.