Brussels, 06/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 6 July, the European Commission cleared the acquisition by the Spanish media group Planeta of a majority shareholding in the Spanish book club Círculo (active in the retail of books through book clubs), currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of international media company Bertelsmann. Following the operation, which was notified on 31 May, Planeta and Bertelsmann will take joint control of Círculo. Planeta and Círculo both publish and sell books to dealers and consumers in Spain, but their combined market share will remain limited. Thus, the proposed operation should not give rise to any competition concerns on the Spanish markets for the acquisition of primary publishing rights, the retail and wholesale of books, the Commission said. The Commission also assessed the vertical relationship between Planeta's activities in the publishing and sale of books to dealers and Círculo's book club business. Here, too, it found that this relationship was unlikely to raise any competition concerns, given Círculo's limited and declining position on the market for the sale of books through its book clubs. The Commission also found that the proposed transaction would not give rise to a risk of coordination between Planeta and Bertelsmann on the various markets for the publishing and sale of books to dealers in Spain given the limited share of Círculo in the revenues they each achieve in these sectors. (F.G./transl.rt)