25/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Mergers: Marubeni-GDF Suez/NPIH. On 25 September, the European Commission gave the go-ahead to acquisition of joint control over National Power International Holding B.V. (NPIH) by Marubeni Corporation and GDF SUEZ S.A. NPIH is a holding company, incorporated under Dutch law, which holds all of GDF SUEZ' interests in the energy sector in Portugal. Particularly, NPIH holds participating interests in both renewable energy and thermal power plants. GDF SUEZ currently fully owns NPIH. Marubeni is a trading company incorporated under the Japanese law having interests across several industries and sectors. In the energy sector, Marubeni has a very limited presence in Europe and no presence at all in Portugal and, through the newly created acquisition vehicle Gaudi Power Holding LLC, intends to acquire a participating interest equal to the 50% of the share capital of NPIH. The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns, in particular because the parties' activities do not overlap as Marubeni is not present on the Portuguese Market. The operation was examined under the simplified merger review procedure. (FG)