RALEIGH – North Carolina has joined the Federal Trade Commission and 11 other states in a federal lawsuit seeking to block PlayPower’s proposed acquisition of rival playground-equipment maker BCI Burke.
The complaint, filed Oct. 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges the deal would substantially reduce competition in the market for commercial outdoor playground equipment. The case asks the court to permanently stop the acquisition. No final ruling has been issued.
PlayPower owns several playground brands, including Miracle Recreation Equipment Company, Little Tikes Commercial and Playworld Systems. Burke is one of its closest competitors, according to the FTC. Regulators allege that combining the companies would remove head-to-head competition on price, service, quality and product innovation.
The FTC said five companies, including PlayPower and Burke, control between 85% and 90% of the U.S. market. That figure and the predicted effects are allegations in the government’s complaint, not findings by the court.
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Jackson’s office said equipment made by the companies is used in communities across North Carolina, including Raleigh, Charlotte, Wilmington, Hickory and several military and coastal communities.
The state argues that higher equipment prices could affect schools, parks departments, churches and municipalities that use public or donated money to build and maintain playgrounds.
A PlayPower spokesperson told Axios that the combination would create more competition in what the company described as a fragmented global market. The spokesperson said the companies are complementary and that PlayPower remains confident in the deal.
The complaint also names PlayPower’s private-equity owner, Platinum Equity, and Burke’s owner, Bertram Capital. The defendants have not conceded the government’s allegations.
The FTC voted 2-0 to authorize the lawsuit. The case concerns whether the proposed transaction violates federal antitrust law; the acquisition remains contested while the litigation proceeds.
Sources
- Federal Trade Commission: lawsuit and complaint, Oct. 19
- Axios: independent report and PlayPower response, Oct. 20
- North Carolina Department of Justice: state participation, Oct. 21
Photo Credit: Singkai Lee via Unsplash, under the Unsplash License. Contextual photograph of playground equipment; proportionally cropped for layout with the canonical NCPN footer added.
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.