The Hellenic Competition Commission gave the "green light" to the merger of technology companies SoftOne and Entersoft. 

Recall that Unity Holding, a business under the control of Panos Germanos' Olympia Group, has made a mandatory public offer to buy all of the shares of Entersoft that it does not already own, or 62.74%.

According to the relevant announcement, the Competition Commission, at its plenary meeting, which took place on July 3, 2024, unanimously decided (Decision 851/2024) to approve the notified concentrations, which concern the change of control of the companies Entersoft and SoftOne.

Entersoft is a Greek company active in the information technology sector and, in particular, in the market for enterprise application software and services (enterprise application software, or EAS).

SoftOne is a Greek company active in the information technology sector and, in particular, in the market for enterprise application software products and services (enterprise application software—EES).

It was reported that (a) "Rucio Investment S.a.r.l." and "Olympia Group Ltd." took control of Entersoft together through the company "UNITY HOLDING COMPANY MONOPROSOPI ANONYMOUS COMPANY" and a public offering of shares; and (b) "Rucio Investment S.a.r.l.", "Rocinante Investments Sarl," and "Grey SquirrelServices Ltd." changed their control of SoftOne from "negative exclusive" to "joint control."

Rucio Investment S.a.r.l. is a holding company, incorporated under Luxembourg law, which indirectly holds a 50% stake in Unity and is active in Greece in the software sector through its direct 21.21% stake in SoftOne.

Rocinante Investments Sarl is a holding company incorporated under Luxembourg law and is active in the software sector in Greece through its direct 21,21% shareholding in SoftOne.

The international investment group Olympia, which operates in the retail and e-commerce, energy, distribution, software, and commercial real estate sectors and indirectly owns the remaining 50% of Unity, is a Cypriot company.

Grey Squirrel is a Cypriot company, a member of the Olympia group, which is active in distribution, software (through its direct 33,34% stake in SoftOne) and commercial real estate

Unity is a Greek company incorporated on March 19, 2024, and, apart from its shareholding in Entersoft, has no other activity.

The Competition Commission examined the interconnected nature of the transactions, which were notified as separate transactions, and the nature of the control acquired and assessed the transactions as a single concentration. The Competition Commission looked into the competitive environment in the EAS market and its submarkets further. They looked at the relevant markets that the parties are active in, such as the EAS market and its submarkets for business planning software (ERP), customer relationship management software (CRM), and supply chain management software (SCM). They found that the transaction would not change the competitive environment at the horizontal level in the affected markets.

The Commission therefore concluded that the concentration does not raise serious doubts as to its compatibility with the conditions of competition in the individual markets concerned.