Brussels, 28/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 28 May, the European Commission authorised the proposed acquisition of the savings bank Allgemeine Sparkasse Oberösterreich Bank Arktiengesellschaft (ASK - Upper Austria) by Erste Bank (Austria), having reached the conclusion that the operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA).
The transaction for takeover of ASK, which has activities in retail banking and corporate banking for SMEs, is part of the restructuring of the Austrian savings bank sector. It is the last of a series of transactions in which Erste Bank, as the central institute for the savings banks sector, acquired control over more than 40 regional savings banks. In this case, the Commission noted that horizontal overlaps between the activities of Erste Bank and ASK in retail and corporate banking are limited and that, for all products and services concerned, the merged entity will continue to face effective competition.
Previous transactions were notified to the Austrian competition authority as they did not reach the turnover thresholds of the EU Merger Regulation, except for Steiermärkische Sparkasse, which was referred from the Commission to the Austrian competition authority for examination on the request of the parties. (F.G./transl.jl)