ASSA ABLOY reaches settlement with U.S. Department of Justice

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Global access solutions provider ASSA ABLOY has resolved its lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), paving the way forward for its acquisition of Spectrum Brands’ Hardware and Home Improvement division (“HHI”).

On May 5 the company reached a settlement with the DoJ that will see ASSA ABLOY move forward with its divestment of Emtek and the Smart Residential business in the U.S. and Canada to Fortune Brands. At the time ASSA ABLOY stated the companies represented roughly $350 million in sales in 2021. The company said that following the settlement, the $4.3 billion acquisition remains subject to customary closing conditions including the approval of the Mexican competition authority, the only outstanding regulatory condition, and is expected to close by the end of June 2023.

“The settlement with DOJ is an important milestone towards closing of the HHI acquisition, which will empower us to increase investments in the residential segments, realize the synergies of MUSD 100 and strengthen our product offering for the benefit of consumers,” Nico Delvaux, president and CEO of ASSA ABLOY, said in a release.

The DoJ stated that the proposed settlement featured additional terms including, “… expanding Fortune’s intellectual property and commercialization rights in smart locks, inclusion of additional residential mechanical lock assets, the appointment of a monitoring trustee, a penalty provision for delayed transfer of a manufacturing facility, and the ability, under certain circumstances, for the Department to seek additional relief later if the divestiture fails to maintain the intensity of competition that existed before the merger for smart locks used for residential and multifamily buildings.”

Security Systems News first reported on the case in September 2022 when the DoJ first filed the lawsuit asserting that the deal violated antitrust laws. “Competition between these two companies, which are two of the three largest companies in an already concentrated industry, has benefited American consumers in the form of lower prices and better quality. That important competition would be extinguished if this merger were allowed to proceed to the detriment of Americans.” Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division wrote at the time.

The DoJ and ASSA ABLOY’s full responses can be found online at www.justice.gov and www.assaabloy.com, respectively.