The European Commission has cleared two acquisitions under the EU Merger Regulation, including the takeover of joint control of UK water company Southern Water by Spain’s Asterion Industrial Partners and Australia’s Macquarie Group.
Macquarie — previously the sole owner — will share control of Southern Water Services Limited with Asterion following the decision, the Commission said in a release on Wednesday.
The deal relates to water and wastewater services in the UK.
The Commission disclosed that it found no competition concerns because the transaction would have a limited impact on the European Economic Area, the region covering EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
The case was assessed under the Commission’s simplified merger review procedure.
Second deal involves steel trading and distribution
In a separate decision, the Commission approved Taifu Kechuang Special Steel (Shanghai) Co., Ltd acquiring sole control of Prosperity Kingsfield Limited, a Hong Kong-based company.
Taifu Kechuang is controlled by China’s CITIC Group Corporation.
The transaction relates primarily to the trading and distribution of steel raw materials and products.
The Commission said it cleared the deal after concluding the companies’ combined market position would be limited, and also reviewed the case under its simplified procedure.
More details are published in the Commission’s public merger case register under case numbers M.12488 and M.12474.
