Swedish Competition Authority closes investigation into media monitoring services

The Swedish Competition Authority has investigated a transaction whereby the owners of Retriever AB (Retriever) and Infomedia A/S (Infomedia) transferred all their shares in their respective companies to a holding company newly established for that purpose, Infomedia Retriever Holding AB (IRH).

The transaction did not reach the turnover thresholds required to qualify as a concentration subject to mandatory notification to the Swedish Competition Authority. Nor did it reach the thresholds required for the Authority to be able to require the parties to notify the transaction for review. The parties were also unable to make a voluntary notification of the transaction. The Swedish Competition Authority has instead examined whether the conduct could constitute an abuse of a dominant position, following the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Towercast (Case C-449/21) and Continental Can (Case 6/72).

In parallel with the Swedish Competition Authority’s investigation, the Norwegian Competition Authority (Konkurransetilsynet) assessed the effects of the transaction on the Norwegian market under its merger control rules, which do not contain thresholds equivalent to those applicable in Sweden. In Norway, the transaction was approved in July 2025, following commitments submitted by IRH, which primarily entailed an obligation for IRH to divest Infomedia Norge AS.

The Swedish Competition Authority notes that the transaction has resulted in Retriever, which is the largest provider of media monitoring services in Sweden in terms of turnover, and Infomedia no longer competing with each other. According to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, an abuse may arise where an undertaking in a dominant position strengthens that position in such a way that the degree of dominance substantially impedes competition, meaning that only undertakings whose behaviour depends on the dominant undertaking would remain on the market. In the Authority’s view, this case law may also be applied in an assessment under the Swedish Competition Act.

However, the investigation has shown that the circumstances surrounding the transaction in question do not provide sufficient grounds to continue the investigation into whether the transaction constitutes an abuse of a dominant position under the Competition Act or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The Swedish Competition Authority’s decision to close the investigation does not constitute a position on whether the conduct is compatible with the competition rules.

Read the decision (in Swedish)

English version of the decision