EU Commission Approves Apollo Funds / Lecta Merger

EC Competition Cases

Filed March 10th, 2026

Detected March 12th, 2026

Summary

The European Commission has issued a decision granting non-opposition to the proposed concentration between Apollo Funds and Lecta. This decision, made under the EU Merger Regulation, signifies the Commission's approval of the acquisition.

View original document View source feed page

What changed

The European Commission, through DG Competition, has issued a final decision (Case M.12333) granting non-opposition to the proposed acquisition of sole control over Lecta Paper Industries Intermediate Financing S.à r.l. by Apollo Capital Management, L.P. The decision, dated March 10, 2026, was made pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of the EU Merger Regulation and Article 57 of the EEA Agreement, following a notification received on February 16, 2026. The transaction involves Apollo Funds acquiring Lecta, a manufacturer of specialty and publishing papers with operations in several European countries.

This decision indicates that the European Commission has examined the merger and found no competition concerns, allowing the transaction to proceed. For regulated entities, this means the merger between Apollo Funds and Lecta is cleared under EU competition law. No specific compliance actions are required from external parties as this is an approval of a merger between two specific entities. The decision is considered final and binding.

Source document (simplified)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DG Competition Case M.12333 - APOLLO FUNDS / LECTA Only the English text is available and authentic. REGULATION (EC) No 139/2004 MERGER PROCEDURE Article 6(1)(b) NON-OPPOSITION Date: 10/03/2026 In electronic form on the EUR-Lex website under document number 32026M12333

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 10.3.2026 C(2026) 1761 final PUBLIC VERSION Apollo Capital Management, L.P. 9 West 57th Street, 41st Floor, New York, NY 10019 United States Subject: Case M.12333 – APOLLO FUNDS / LECTA Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 ( ) and Article 57 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area ( ) Dear Sir or Madam, (1) On 16 February 2026, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation, by which Apollo Capital Management, L.P. (“Apollo Funds”, United States), controlled by Apollo Global Management, Inc. (United States), will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control over the whole of the undertaking Lecta Paper Industries Intermediate Financing S.à r.l. (“Lecta”, Luxembourg) by way of purchase of shares.( ) (2) The business activities of the undertakings concerned are the following: – Apollo Funds is a global alternative asset manager that offers investment management and financial planning services to individuals and institutional investors, – Lecta is a manufacturer and supplier of specialty papers for labels, flexible packaging and other high value-added print segments, as well as coated and uncoated paper for publishing. It operates production facilities in Europe, including in Spain, France, Italy and Germany. () OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘Merger Regulation’). With effect from 1 December 2009, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’) has introduced certain changes, such as the replacement of ‘Community’ by ‘Union’ and ‘common market’ by ‘internal market’. The terminology of the TFEU will be used throughout this decision. () OJ L 1, 3.1.1994, p. 3 (the ‘EEA Agreement’). () OJ C, C/2026/1144, 23.2.2026.

(3) After examination of the notification, the European Commission has concluded that the notified operation falls within the scope of the Merger Regulation and of paragraph 5(d) of the Commission Notice on a simplified treatment for certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004. () (4) For the reasons set out in the Notice on a simplified treatment, the European Commission has decided not to oppose the notified operation and to declare it compatible with the internal market and with the EEA Agreement. This decision is adopted in application of Article 6(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation and Article 57 of the EEA Agreement. For the Commission (Signed) Linsey MCCALLUM Director-General (acting) Directorate-General for Competition () OJ C 160, 5.5.2023, p. 1 (the ‘Notice on a simplified treatment’).