The European Commission has opened an in-depth, Phase II investigation into the proposed acquisition of the Porta Group by XXXLutz KG, the Austrian furniture retailer controlled by the LSW and WSF private foundations. The transaction, notified on September 7, 2026 and registered as case M.11895, would transfer the whole of Porta, controlled by Porta Holding KG, to XXXLutz through share and asset purchases.
Porta’s brands include porta Möbel, SB-Möbel Boss and Möbel LETZ in Germany and ASKO in Czechia and Slovakia, with more than 140 outlets, against more than 1,800 stores across the XXXLutz group. The Commission’s concerns cover furniture retail markets in Germany, Czechia and Slovakia, and furniture procurement in those countries and Poland, including whether a larger group would increase leverage over manufacturers through the GIGA International purchasing association.
The in-depth phase follows a separate formal investigation, opened in July 2026, into whether the parties may have implemented parts of the transaction before clearance. No decision has been taken in either proceeding, and the merger remains unresolved. Specialist reporting puts the Phase II decision deadline in February 2027, though reports differ on the exact day, so only the month is stated here.
For the parties, the delay itself has a cost: the acquisition was publicly announced in January 2025, and a conditional clearance could still require site level remedies in local markets where the two chains overlap most closely.