UK Competition Appeal Tribunal issues judgement regarding Tobii’s Divestiture of Smartbox
Tobii AB (publ) today comments on the latest events regarding the Smartbox acquisition. The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) today issued a judgement regarding Tobii’s appeal concerning the divestiture of Smartbox. In parallel to the appeals process, Tobii has maintained an ongoing divestiture process in line with the British Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) initial decision.
CAT has today issued a judgement finding that the CMA was only partially correct in its decision making. CAT has asked Tobii and CMA for further submissions and is expected to issue a final order within the coming weeks.
“Tobii will now review the judgement finding in more detail and continue the process with the CAT and the CMA. We will also continue with the divestment of Smartbox and adjust our course of actions depending on the progress in these parallel tracks”, said Henrik Eskilsson, CEO, Tobii Group.
Background
In October 2018 Tobii AB (publ) acquired Smartbox Assistive Technology Ltd, a UK based company operating in the field of assistive technology for communication.
Upon the announcement of the acquisition, the CMA opened an investigation under UK competition law. The two companies’ brands and operations have been held separate, pending the completion of the CMA’s review.
The CMA announced the final conclusions of its investigation on August 15 and required a full divestiture of Smartbox by Tobii. Tobii appealed the decision to the CAT.
This information is information that Tobii AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, on 10 January 2020, at 5:30 p.m.CET.
Contact
Ola Elmeland, Investor Relations, phone: +46 73 440 98 62, email: investor.relations@tobii.com
Nils Lindhe, Vice President Marketing Tobi Dynavox, phone: +46 (0) 768 948484
email: nils.lindhe @tobii.com
About Tobii
Tobii is the global leader in eye tracking. Our vision is a world where all technology works in harmony with natural human behavior. Tobii operates through three business units: Tobii Dynavox makes specially designed computers that are controlled by eye movement or touch screens for use by people with special needs due to spinal cord injuries, CP, ALS or other medical conditions. Tobii Pro develops and sells eye-tracking equipment and services used today by more than 3,500 companies and 2,500 research institutions, including all of the world’s 50 highest ranked universities. Tobii Tech further develops Tobii’s technology for new volume markets, such as computer games, personal computers, virtual reality, augmented reality and smartphones. Tobii is headquartered in Sweden and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (TOBII). The group has about 1,000 employees. For more information: www.tobii.com.