Search Results for: Germany

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed takeover of SSM Coal BV, of the Netherlands, by Germany’s Rheinbraun Brennstoff GmbH, concluding after an inquiry that the deal would not create competition problems in the EU petcoke market.

Rheinbraun, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the German RWE Group, distributes coal and other solid fuels.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the planned acquisition by Interseroh AG of Hansa Recycling GmbH, using its merger approval powers under the European Coal and Steel Community. Both companies trade in ferrous scrap and are based in Germany, where their services overlap in some regions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has lodged formal requests for three disputes panels to be set up to rule on steel import restrictions imposed by the USA, in the teeth of opposition from Washington, which is vigorously opposing the move.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FINLAND is the world’s most technologically advanced country, according to a United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP), report, which puts the UK at number seven in its league table, also behind the USA, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared a planned Spanish publishing joint venture between Germany’s Bertelsmann and Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA, of Italy, combining all the book publishing divisions and imprints in Spain and Latin America of Random House and Mondadori.…

BY RICHARD HURST
SOUTH African Synthetic fuels company, SASOL is reported to be actively seeking further foreign acquisitions in the EU and north America, following its purchase of Germany’s Condea. A spokesman for SASOL said, “It remains the company’s corporate growth strategy to look for at synergistic alliances and joint-ventures on a global basis.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has re-launched its civil case against Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds, teaming up from the start with Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg, to scupper any further defence that the EU had no substantive complaint against the tobacco firms.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPETITION officials are examining a proposed German joint-venture merging the downstream and petrochemical operations of Deutsche Shell GmbH and its rival RWE-DEA. The German Competition Authority has been given the right to adjudicate on the downstream elements by the European Commission, which is itself handling the deal’s petrochemical implications.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a detailed investigation into the planned merger between Germany’s Südzucker AG and France’s Saint Louis Sucre S.A., because of concerns that the deal will harm competition in the sugar sector. A preliminary inquiry concluded there were serious concerns linked to Südzucker’s strong position in Belgium and southern Germany, where it commands a sugar market share of 70-90 per cent.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
FINNISH steel companies Rautaruukki and Outokumpu are set to benefit from European Commission funding of Euro 600,000 granted to support the distribution of steel across Europe using alternatives to road transport.

The funded transport project is part of the EU’s PACT programme, which aims to move containers and similar units away from roads to rail, sea and inland waterways.…