The Autorité de la concurrence clears the acquisition of Softeam by Le Groupe La Poste

On 14 November 2019, Le Groupe La Poste notified the Autorité of its intention to acquire Softeam. This transaction is part of Le Groupe La Poste’s strategy to diversify its activities, resulting in multiple mergers which have been controlled by the Autorité de la concurrence¹.

Parties to the transaction

Le Groupe La Poste is the incumbent operator which runs the state postal service in France. It owns a number of subsidiaries which are organised into five business units:

• Parcels & Mail Services,
• GeoPost (international express delivery of parcels under 30 kg, business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C),
• La Banque Postale,
• La Poste Network, and
• Digital Services.

Within the Digital Services business unit, Docaposte, a subsidiary of Le Groupe La Poste, develops new digital tools to support companies in their digital transformation.

Softeam is a company specialising in information technology consulting² which provides IT consulting services, project management and prime contractorship, as well as digital communication and training. Softeam also works in the field of technology for digital transformation, providing services relating to data management as well as Artificial Intelligence tools.

Markets examined

Both parties work in the IT services markets.

La Poste also operates in document and data management for third parties and colocation services (or data centres) via its subsidiary Docaposte.

Regarding this transaction, the Autorité found that, in the last ten years, the IT services markets have been subject to constant innovation and that this must be taken into account.

For its examination, the Autorité questioned the key competitors of the parties to the transaction in this market. Thanks to this market test (consulting operators in the market), the Autorité learned a great deal about the structure and workings of the IT services (or digital services) markets.

In this context, the Autorité identified two new segmentations of the IT services markets aimed at integrating these innovations:

• the first relates to new activities that come under the acronym "SMACS", meaning: Social³; Mobile; Analytics⁴; Cloud and Security. These activities are considered by the key players in the sector to be the major drivers needed for the digital transformation of the economy.
• the second segmentation is related to key innovations: Artificial Intelligence; the Internet of Things, or "IoT"; blockchain; big data; cloud services; virtual and augmented reality; robotics; and high-performance computing.

The transaction is not likely to harm competition

The Autorité looked at whether or not the acquisition of Softeam by Le Groupe La Poste would restrict competition in the markets for IT services, document and data management for third parties and that for colocation⁵ services (data centres). Regarding the latter, the Autorité analysed the conglomerate effects⁶ of the transaction linked to the existence of a unique advantage, namely Le Groupe La Poste's brand image, as the incumbent operator of postal services, insofar as regards the security and confidentiality of its customers' personal data.

The Autorité found that the operation does not significantly strengthen the position of the new entity across all these markets, partly due to the presence of many other competitors providing integrated digital services, and partly due to the parties’ limited positions in the markets in question.

The Autorité therefore cleared the transaction without making it subject to any special conditions.

> See text of decision 19-DCC-259 of 18 december 2019

¹For example, see Decisions 19-DCC-195 (Economie d’Energie / La Poste), 17-DCC-209  (Suez RV / La Poste) and 17-DCC-74 (Asten Santé / La Poste Silver)

² Formerly known as software engineering companies, such companies specialise in the field of new technology and computing.

³ Social refers to activities relating to social networks.

⁴ Analytics generally means the use of statistics and data, as well as the use of big data and Artificial Intelligence.

⁵ Data centre colocation is used to host the entire IT infrastructure of a company that does not have either the resources or the space required to install a computer system, by renting a room in a data centre.

⁶ Conglomerate effects may exist when the new entity extends or strengthens its presence in markets other than those in which it operates, but the related nature of which could help it to increase its market power.