Brussels, 15/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 14 September, the European Commission authorised plans to acquire the German tour operator Öger Tours GmbH by the UK's Thomas Cook Group plc. The planned operation will certainly give rise to horizontal and vertical overlaps in the tourism sector, particularly in Germany. However, the Commission's investigations showed that the cumulative market shares of the parties would be “moderate”. In addition, the parties will still face strong competition, most notably from TUI, REWE, Alltours and FTI. It is therefore unlikely, the Commission notes, that the planned operation will allow the parties unilaterally to increase their prices. In view of the high number of competitors and wide range of available holiday products, in particular, the Commission also concluded that the planned operation would not considerably increase the risk of price or capacity coordination between the main players on these markets. Lastly, the Commission reached the conclusion that the cumulative position of the parties on the wholesale hotel bedrooms and airline seats markets would not be such as to prevent other tour operators from acceding to these capacities. (O.L./trans.fl)