Brussels, 05/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 5 June 2013, the European Commission approved a plan by the Walloon Region of Belgium to convert into equity a residual claim of €43.5 million held against the Belgian aeronautics company Sonaca, in which the Region has a 92.29% holding. The Commission did not consider that this conversion constituted state aid because a private investor would have taken the same action in the same circumstances. Belgium showed that forced liquidation of Sonaca would have recovered very little of the state's investment and therefore converting it into equity amounted to a good return-on-investment in light of the company's order book and current business. The Commission concluded that the move would not give Sonaca an unfair economic advantage and was therefore allowed under the EU state aid rules. (FG/transl.fl)