Commission approves Clarios’ acquisition of three lead recycling plants from Ecobat in Germany and Austria

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

The European Commission has approved unconditionally, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition by Clarios of three secondary recycling lead smelters, operated by Ecobat in Germany (Braubach and Freiberg) and Austria (Arnoldstein). The Commission concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).

Clarios is a leading supplier of automotive lead-acid batteries in the EEA, serving both car manufacturers and the market for spare parts and accessories. It also operates two recycling lead smelters in Germany and Spain, where used lead-acid batteries are processed and reused to make new ones. With the transaction Clarios will acquire from Ecobat three additional lead smelters, which are currently supplying recycled lead to both Clarios and its competitors.

The Commission’s investigation

The Commission investigated the impact of the transaction on the markets for:

• the supply of secondary lead and secondary lead metal alloys,
• the provision of tolling services (i.e., when a smelter recycles scrap lead-acid batteries on behalf of a customer in exchange for a tolling fee),
• the procurement of scrap lead-acid batteries, and
• the market for the manufacture and supply of automative lead-acid batteries.

Clarios’ and Ecobat’s German and Austrian activities overlap horizontally in the procurement of scrap lead-acid batteries. The transaction also gives rise to vertical links between the parties’ activities upstream, for the supply of secondary lead, lead metal alloys and tolling services, and downstream, for the manufacturing of automotive lead-acid batteries.

Based on its market investigation, the Commission found that the transaction, as notified, would not significantly reduce competition. In particular: 

• Competing battery manufacturers will keep access to recycled lead. Even if Clarios uses the production of recycled lead from the plants for its own battery production in the future, its competitors will continue to have access to the same volumes of recycled lead, from a sufficient number of alternative smelters selling on the open market.
• Tolling services are not an important input for competing battery manufacturers. The data collected confirms that tolling services account for only a small share of the secondary lead sourced by battery manufacturers and a sufficient number of credible alternative suppliers will remain active in Central Europe. Battery manufacturers will thus keep the possibility to enter into new tolling agreements or directly purchase secondary lead from these alternative suppliers.
• Competing recycling lead smelters will keep access to customers. The Commission found that, even if Clarios started sourcing recycled lead internally and stopped buying recycled lead from other smelters, those other smelters would still have access to a sufficient number of customers.
• Clarios will continue to procure scrap batteries. The Commission found that Clarios would have no incentive to reduce the volumes of scrap batteries previously purchased from scrap suppliers in Austria and Germany. In addition, suppliers of scrap batteries will continue to have access to alternative smelters, in neighbouring countries where they currently sell significant volumes of scrap batteries.

The Commission therefore concluded that the proposed transaction would raise no competition concerns on any of the markets examined in the EEA, or any substantial part of it, and cleared the transaction unconditionally.

Companies and products

Clarios, headquartered in Germany, is a vertically integrated manufacturer of automotive lead-acid batteries, who also produces secondary lead and lead metal alloys, and uses them entirely captively for the manufacturing of its own batteries.

Ecobat Austria and Germany operates three lead smelters where it recycles used lead-acid batteries to produce secondary lead, lead metal alloys and polypropylene. These products are then sold to battery manufacturers.

Merger control rules and procedure

The transaction was notified to the Commission on 4 March 2026.

The Commission has the duty to assess mergers and acquisitions involving companies with a turnover above certain thresholds (see Article 1 of the EU Merger Regulation) and to prevent concentrations that would significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.

The vast majority of notified mergers do not pose competition problems and are cleared after a routine review. From the moment a transaction is notified, the Commission generally has 25 working days to decide whether to grant approval (Phase I) or to start an in-depth investigation (Phase II).

For more information

More information will be available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.12145.