Fincantieri, the EU Commission will open an investigation into the acquisition of the former Stx France for violation of antitrust rules

There EU Commission will open ainvestigation in-depth on the acquisition by Fincantieri from Chantiers de l'Atlantique (ex Stx France). The operation was notified on September 25 and Wednesday the first phase expires, the one in which the parties should spontaneously offer remedies to fears that theantitrust he had already expressed in January, when he agreed to evaluate the case. According to what he learnsHandle, no remedy was offered and then Brussels will open aformal investigation.

The acquisition agreement was signed on 2 February 2018 by Fincantieri with the French State for the acquisition of 50% of the capital of the former Stx France. The joint control of the colossus of the shipbuilding was a victory of Macron which he managed to avoid losing 51%, as initially foreseen by the agreement, after a long tug of war with the then premier Paolo Gentiloni. Almost a year later, last January, the European Commission accepted the request presented by France and from Germany that invited her to examine the acquisition in the light of antitrust regulation. Then the community executive wrote that "the operation could harm to a significant extent to competition in the field of shipbuilding, in particular with regard to the world market of cruise ships "and" at European and world level ".

The antitrust offices in Brussels, in particular, stressed that the acquisition project of Chantiers de l'Atlantique by Fincantieri does not reach the turnover thresholds provided for by the EU regulation on concentrations for the operations that must be notified to the Commission because of their European dimension. However, the agreement, the Commission specifies, was the subject of notification for authorization in France and Germany. Then France itself presented one to the Commission referral request pursuant to Article 22 (1) of the EU merger regulation.

A behavior, that of Paris, which at the time was hard criticized also by the President of the Council, Giuseppe Conte. IS "paradoxical" that “while creating a European champion of shipbuilding "to" compete more effectively on world markets "by France" is involved the European Commission in such an ambiguous way, "said the premier on January 26th during the World Economic Forum, marking the intervention of the French Antitrust as"really not very understandable".

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