Malta’s Office for Competition has approved the acquisition of Advent Lifts Services, a local company perhaps best known for its Vertibus brand of elevators, by the Italian subsidiary of the world’s largest vertical transportation company.

Advent Lifts Services is set to be bought by Cypress Holdings Srl, based in Milan, which forms part of Otis Worldwide Corporation.

Otis is an elevator and escalator manufacturing, installation and service company, with a global network of over 1,400 branches. In Malta, it has so far supplied elevators and spare parts through an independent third party distributor.

Based in Connecticut and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Otis Wikipedia page identifies it as “the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems, principally focusing on elevators, moving walkways, and escalators.” It was founded in 1853.

The Otis Worldwide Corporation headquarters in Farmington, Connecticut / Daniel Penfield, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA) was notified of the market concentration in early February. Having received no objections to the acquisition, it approved the deal in late February, saying that it “does not raise serious doubts as to its lawfulness.”