The Bundeskartellamt, Germany's competition authority, has granted approval for Salesforce Inc. to acquire sole control over Informatica Inc. Salesforce, based in the USA, is the world's largest provider of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, while Informatica specializes in data management and integration solutions used by various industries to centralize company data, increasingly in the cloud.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, noted that this merger is part of a broader trend of vertical mergers in digital markets. Companies providing data-intensive enterprise software, cloud services, or AI models are increasingly acquiring or investing in firms that offer data processing services, such as organizing, managing, integrating, or refining data. The acquired companies often provide promising data processing services, making them valuable to acquirers with strong market positions in their core business. The authority conducts thorough reviews of such acquisitions. However, in this case, Salesforce is merely acquiring a portfolio that several competitors already possess. Ultimately, the merger was approved due to the presence of numerous competitors with similar assets, capabilities, and AI strategies.

CRM solutions are software systems that assist businesses in managing, analyzing, and improving customer relationships, optimizing sales, marketing, and customer service processes. The Bundeskartellamt did not determine whether there is a unified market for CRM software or if it should be further segmented by functionalities or customer groups.

Informatica is a leading provider in several areas, including data integration tools, integration platform as a service, data quality solutions, and data and analytics management platforms. However, there are various alternative offerings, including solutions from major hyperscalers. Notably, SAP competes with the parties involved in CRM systems as well as data integration and management solutions.

The combined portfolio of the merger partners could have a strong market presence due to their existing market positions. Nevertheless, customer surveys indicated that numerous alternative providers for data integration services exist, including not only SAP but also Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Qlik, Ab Initio, and Pentaho. Considering potential effects from the portfolio enhancement, a significant strengthening of the market position of the merger parties was not established, leading to the ultimate approval of the merger.