Culligan completes combination with drinking water solutions firm Waterlogic

At the beginning of November 2022, US-based consumer water services company Culligan International completed its combination with Waterlogic Holdings, a B2B provider of drinking water dispensers, after obtaining all necessary approvals from competition authorities. Compass Lexecon assisted Culligan throughout the merger proceedings worldwide.

Culligan and Waterlogic are both active in providing water dispensing solutions and services such as bottle-free coolers, bottled water coolers, multifunctional taps, wall mounted boilers and countertop boilers. The combination of the two companies, with largely complementary footprints, allows them to strengthen their position in providing clean and sustainable drinking water solutions and services to consumers and organisations globally.

Compass Lexecon assisted Culligan during the merger proceedings in Austria, Germany, the UK, the US, Australia, and New Zealand. We developed arguments regarding the appropriate product and geographic frame of reference and closeness of competition between the Parties and their competitors, and analysed market shares and bidding data. The transaction was unconditionally cleared in Austria and Germany, and cleared with remedies in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. In the US, the HSR waiting period expired without the issuance of a second request.

The Compass Lexecon team in Europe was led by Kirsten Edwards-Warren and Andy Parkinson, and included Gianmarco Calanchi, Sergey Khodjamirian, Martin Wickens, Balram Sennik, Karan Garg, and Rory Creedon. They worked with a team from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, led by Helmut Bergmann, Maria Dreher, and Martin McElwee and including Mariusz Motyka-Mojkowski, Paul Seppi, Maren Tamke, Hannah Dorling, Alessandra Galea, Toyosi Taiwo, and Georgia Whelan, and as well as with local counsel in Australia and New Zealand.

The Compass Lexecon team in the US was led by Nathan Wilson and included Georgi Giozov and Elad Zigelman. They worked with a team from Davis Polk & Wardell LLP led by Howard Shelanski and including Gregory Morrison.