Justice Department: 3M Drops Plans to Acquire Avery Dennison's Office, Consumer-Products Unit

   By Nathalie Tadena 
 

Industrial conglomerate 3M Co. (MMM) has abandoned its plan to acquire Avery Dennison Corp.'s (AVY) office and consumer products business after the Department of Justice threatened to file a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the deal, the DOJ said.

The DOJ said the proposed deal would have substantially lessened competition in the sale of labels and sticky notes, which would have resulted in higher prices for consumers.

3M, whose products range from Post-it notes to furnace filters and power lines, in January agreed to acquire Avery's office and consumer products business for $550 million to increase its presence in the sector. The unit's products include labels, binders and filing and indexing products.

The proposed merger would have given 3M more than an 80% share of both the U.S. labels and sticky-notes markets, the DOJ said.

The DOJ said its investigation found 3M and Avery dominated adjacent spaces in the office-products business for many years. 3M entered the labels market in the U.S. in 2009 and began competing with Avery. Avery responded by lowering wholesale prices, increasing promotions and customer rebates, accelerating innovations in its labels and selling Avery-branded sticky notes, the DOJ said.

Avery's shares tumbled 5.2% to $29.60 in regular session trading on reports the Justice Department planned to sue to block the deal. Avery shares were unchanged after hours while 3M shares were up by 39 cents to $92.07 after hours.

Write to Nathalie Tadena at [e-mail]

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