BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU antitrust regulators cleared on Tuesday French waste and water management company Veolia’s 13-billion-euro ($14.70 billion) tie-up with rival Suez conditional on the companies’ sales of assets to allay competition concerns.
Reuters exclusively reported last week that the deal would receive the EU green light after tweaks to remedies from the companies.
The European Commission said an extensive package of asset sales addressed all its concerns about the deal.
Remedies proposed by the companies include hiving off Suez’s French water and waste activities and some international assets into a new entity called “New Suez” whose shareholders are Meridiam and Global Infrastructure Partners, state-backed Caisse des Depots and CNP Assurances.
($1 = 0.8843 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee)
