Sonova conditionally cleared to acquire hearing-aid chain Schoonenberg

Hearing-aid manufacturer Sonova is allowed to acquire AudioNova. AudioNova owns Schoonenberg, a chain of hearing-aid retailers. However, Sonova had to sell two locations first, which were located in the Dutch towns of Hilversum and Naarden. This has been announced today by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).

Sonova supplies hearing aids, accessories, and wireless communication systems to hearing-aid retailers in the Netherlands, for example under its brands Phonak and Unitron, among other brand names. They also have fifteen stores under the name Connect Hearing. AudioNova owns over 200 Schoonenberg stores in the Netherlands. These stores also sell hearing aids, accessories, and wireless communication systems.

ACM has established that the acquisition of AudioNova’s stores will not pose any anticompetitive problems. However, Sonova and AudioNova would have had a lot of stores in the Hilversum area. ACM was thus not able to rule out any anticompetitive problems in that region. That is why Sonova in early-September 2016 sold two Connect Hearing locations, in Hilversum and Naarden, to one of its competitors, Oorwerk BV. As a result, ACM no longer sees any impediments, on the condition that this sale will be completed within two months, and that Sonova will not buy back these locations within the next ten years.