By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Kimberly-Clark is preparing concessions to address EU antitrust concerns about its bid for Tylenol maker Kenvue that could help it win approval for the $40 billion deal after a preliminary review, people familiar with the matter said.
Kimberly-Clark shares rose more than 2.7% on the news in early trading while Kenvue gained 2.3%.
The maker of Kleenex tissues and Huggies diapers announced the deal in November last year that would add Kenvue’s vast portfolio of brands from Listerine mouthwash to skincare brands Aveeno and Neutrogena to Kimberly-Clark’s range of products.
The European Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, is set to formally inform Kimberly-Clark of its concerns this week, the people said.
This would determine whether the company submits concessions during the regulator’s preliminary review which ends on September 29 to secure the EU green light, or waits until it opens a full-scale four-month-long investigation after the end of that preliminary assessment.
The Commission declined to comment. Kimberly-Clark and Kenvue did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
The deal was cleared in Australia last week on condition Kimberly-Clark divests Kenvue’s Carefree and Stayfree period care brands in the country. It secured conditional approval in South Africa last month.
The deal comes amid a challenging consumer goods environment, with shoppers looking for value and companies responding by investing in smaller pack sizes and cutting underperforming units.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Louise Heavens, Jan Harvey and Tomasz Janowski)
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