Stockholm, November 21, 2025 — The Swedish authority has closed its investigation into whether the creation of Infomedia Retriever Holding AB amounted to an abuse of dominance, concluding that the circumstances did not justify continuing the case.
Konkurrensverket reviewed the deal in which the owners of Retriever AB and Infomedia A/S transferred all shares into a newly formed holding company, IRH. Because the transaction fell below Sweden’s merger notification thresholds — and below the thresholds that would allow the authority to request a filing — the agency instead examined whether the deal could constitute an abuse of dominance under the Towercast and Continental Can case law.
In parallel, the Norwegian Competition Authority reviewed the same transaction under its merger rules and cleared it in July 2025 after IRH agreed to divest Infomedia Norge AS.
Konkurrensverket noted that the deal removed competition between Retriever — the largest media-monitoring services provider in Sweden — and Infomedia. Under EU case law, a dominant firm may abuse its position by strengthening its dominance to such an extent that competitive pressure is significantly impeded. The authority found that this doctrine could apply under Swedish law to non-notifiable mergers.
However, after examining the facts, Konkurrensverket determined that the circumstances did not provide sufficient grounds to pursue an abuse-of-dominance case under the Swedish Competition Act or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The decision to close the case does not constitute a conclusion on whether the conduct complies with competition rules.
