Brussels, 31/08/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission, on Tuesday 30 August, cleared the proposed acquisition of joint control over Beluga Hochtief Offshore (BHO) by the German company Hochtief, currently its sole owner, and the Belgian company GeoSea.
The Commission examined the horizontal overlaps between the parties' activities in renting specialised vessels to the offshore industry and a potential vertical relationship between this activity and the downstream market for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of offshore facilities where both Hochtief and GeoSea are active.
In each case, the Commission found that the proposed acquisition would not raise concerns as the companies' shares on the markets at issue are not significant. The Commission also found that the joint venture would not lead to any anti-competitive effects in terms of potential coordination between the activities of BHO's parent companies on other markets that are unrelated to BHO's field of activities. As a result, the Commission concluded that the proposed joint venture would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area or any substantial part of it.
Hochtief is active in construction, concessions, real estate, and facility and energy management.
GeoSea is a Belgian company specialising in offshore work. It is part of the Belgian dredging and marine infrastructure group DEME (Dredging Environmental & Marine Engineering NV) whose activities cover dredging and land reclamation, hydraulic engineering, environmental services, extraction and processing and supply of marine aggregates for the construction industry. DEME is, in turn, controlled by Ackermans & van Haaren, a publicly listed Belgian-based industrial investment group, and CFE, a publicly listed civil contractor controlled by the French construction and concession group Vinci.
The joint venture will be active in renting specialised vessels to the offshore industry for use in the repair, maintenance and operation of offshore facilities such as wind farms. (O.L./transl.rt)