(Update: details of the CMA’s decision, green light from the Australian competition authority for the merger between Veolia and Suez, context, reaction on the stock market)
PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones) – The British competition authority, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), announced on Tuesday that it had decided to submit the acquisition of the utility group Suez by its rival Veolia to an in-depth, so-called “phase 2” investigation.
On December 7, the CMA raised this possibility, believing that this merger would lead to less competition in several markets in the United Kingdom. She then gave Veolia five working days to submit proposals to address its concerns.
“On December 14, Veolia informed the CMA that it would not offer such commitments,” the authority said in a statement. The CMA thus “decided to submit the merger to its presidency for the constitution of a group” in charge of carrying out an in-depth investigation into the operation, she added.
Contacted by the Agefi-Dow Jones agency, Veolia declined to comment.
Green light from the Australian regulator
The CEO of the French group, Antoine Frérot, said in November that the decision of the UK competition authority, like that of Australia, was not “on the critical path of finalizing” the operation.
The Australian competition authority (ACCC) for its part announced on Tuesday that it would not oppose the operation, after having accepted sale commitments from Veolia. “The ACCC considers that the proposed acquisition is not likely to significantly reduce competition” in Australia, said the regulator in a statement.
The British CMA is thus the only regulator not to have validated the merger between Veolia and Suez.
Last week, the European Commission had conditionally authorized this project, paving the way for the closing of Veolia’s public takeover bid (takeover bid) for Suez on January 7, 2022.
For the operation to succeed, Veolia has proposed a series of commitments to the Commission, including the sale of almost all of Suez’s activities on the markets for the management of ordinary and regulated waste and municipal water in France. . The group also proposed the sale of almost all of Veolia’s activities in the mobile water services market in the European Economic Area (EEA).
At 11:35 am, the Veolia share gained 0.6%, to 31.49 euros, and the Suez title yielded 0.3%, to 19.81 euros, in a Parisian market up 0.6%.
-Alice Doré, Agefi-Dow Jones; +33 (0) 1 41 27 47 90; [email protected] ed: VLV
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December 21, 2021 05:37 ET (10:37 GMT)