Brussels, 06/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 6 September, the European Commission authorised the proposed acquisition by the French banking group, BNP Paribas, of Fortis Commercial Finance Holding (FCF), a company specialised in factoring services in several member states and especially in Belgium.
The proposed transaction, notified to the Commission on 4 August, brings about the repatriation of the Belgian assets of the Fortis factoring business, which came under the control of the Dutch state owing to the corporate structure of the Fortis group at the time of its separation, together with some operations of relatively limited scope in other member states. The Dutch assets of FCF are not part of the intended transaction and will be carved out to remain with their current owner, ABN Amro bank.
After careful examination of the operation, the Commission concluded that the horizontal overlap between the parties' activity would remain limited, with BNP not being very present in Belgium when it comes to factoring, and that the entity formed by the merger would continue to be faced by powerful and effective competition. The Commission therefore authorised the operation which should not impede competition. (F.G./transl.jl)