Eight Advisory supported Sateba Group in its merger review process as part of its acquisition by Vossloh
Vossloh and Sateba are global leaders in rail infrastructure products and services.
Vossloh is particularly active in the supply of fastening systems and turnouts.
Sateba Group is a leading supplier of concrete sleepers for rails and bearers for turnouts and is active in the design and manufacture of other products required for the construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure.
On September 29, 2025, the French Competition Authority authorized the acquisition of the Sateba group by Vossloh after a lengthy Phase 1 investigation, subject to a commitment. This concludes the review process for this transaction, which included in nine merger control authorizations between September 2024 and September 2025 (Estonia, France, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden, Ukraine).
Although there is little overlap between the parties’ activities, the Authority identifies the existence of vertical links created by the transaction between (i) fastening system components and fastening systems, (ii) fastening systems and pre-assembled sleepers, and (iii) concrete supports and complete switch systems.
The Authority has accepted the parties’ commitment to supply concrete sleepers on fair terms to their competitors active in the market for the supply of complete switch systems for the French market for a period of five years.
The Eight Advisory teams assisted Sateba Group throughout this process before the various competition agencies, from collecting internal company data and certain market data to designing the arguments presented to the authorities. They worked alongside Vossloh’s legal advisors (Freshfields, Uta Itzen and Jérôme Philippe) and the legal advisors of Towerbrook, owner of Sateba Group (Sidley, Patrick Harrisson), as well as Vossloh’s economic advisors (ECA).
Eight Advisory team members supporting this transaction:
- Merger control: Étienne Chantrel (Partner)
- Internal data gathering : Nick Breadner (Partner), Hebah Bibi (Manager), Claudia Mooney (Senior)