Kingspan fined €40m by EU Commission over failed takeover of Trimo

The sanction is for the Irish insulation manufacturer providing 'incorrect and misleading information' during its review of the company’s planned acquisition of Trimo

Kingspan CEO, Gene Murtagh. File photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

The EU Commission has fined Irish insulation manufacturer Kingspan €40m for providing “incorrect and misleading information” during its review of the company’s planned acquisition of Trimo which it ultimately abandoned.

Kingspan sought approval from the commission in March 2021 to acquire Trimo, which specialises in fireproof roof and metal facades. By April 2022, the proposed takeover was dropped.

In November 2022, the EU Commission opened an investigation into whether Kingspan “intentionally or negligently supplied incomplete, incorrect and/or misleading information” in relation to the proposed acquisition.

In March 2024, the commission sent Kingspan a Statement of Objections (SO) setting out its preliminary view that the company had infringed the EU Merger Regulations in six instances by providing incorrect and/or misleading information.

On Thursday, the commission announced that it fined Kingspan €40m. In a statement, the commission said, having analysed Kingspan’s arguments in response to the SO, it further refined its objections in a Supplementary SO and ultimately dropped two of the six objections that it had initially raised.

The commission said that Kingspan provided “misleading information” about how the company tracks penetration rates for mineral fibre sandwich panels which is a metric used to show how much a product is used compared to other products.

It said the company also provided “incorrect and/or misleading information” about the availability of 'bidding data' — which are generally used in merger investigations to assess the competitive dynamics in a certain sector — as well as incorrect information about Kingspan board members' involvement in matters such as the planned acquisition of Trimo, other acquisitions envisaged by Kingspan, as well as industry trends and business strategy.

The last infringement the commission found was that Kingspan provided “incorrect and/or misleading information with respect to Kingspan's research and development for mineral fibre sandwich panels”.

“This kind of information, which usually only the company itself can provide, is key to understanding a company's position in the relevant market.” 

Under the merger regulations, the commission can fine companies up to 1% of their turnover if they intentionally or negligently provide incorrect or misleading information.

“The commission considers Kingspan's four infringements as serious, because they led to obstructions in the merger investigation and made it difficult for the Commission to properly review the transaction,” the commission said.

“It also considers that Kingspan could not have been unaware of its obligations under the EU Merger Regulation, meaning that the breach was at least negligent.” 

Kingspan was fined €10m for each infringement.

In response to the EU Commission’s fine, Kingspan said it noted the decision “regarding an acquisition we ultimately decided not to pursue”.

“We look forward to appealing the decision in full.”