NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. District choose has halted the merger between makers of Coach and Michael Kors purses, saying it could scale back competitors and damage customers.

In her ruling Thursday, U.S. District Choose Jennifer Rochon famous that Tapestry Inc. and Capri Holdings are “shut rivals” and that the merger would end in “the lack of head-to-head competitors” and lift costs for buyers.

The choice adopted seven days of testimony.

In after hours buying and selling shares of Capri fell greater than 50% whereas shares of Tapestry rose 12%.

The ruling got here six months after the FTC sued to dam Tapestry’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Capri, saying that the deal would remove direct competitors between the style corporations’ manufacturers like Coach and Michael Kors within the so-called inexpensive luxurious purse area.

The company additionally mentioned that the deal introduced in August 2023, threatens to remove the motivation for the 2 corporations to vie for workers and will depress staff’ wages and office advantages. The mixed Tapestry and Capri would make use of roughly 33,000 folks worldwide, the company mentioned.

Neither Tapestry or Capri might be instantly reached for remark.

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