29/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - Mergers: Sales & Solutions/Verbund/JV. On 29 January 2014, the European Commission gave the go-ahead to the creation of a German joint venture by Sales & Solutions, of Germany and VERBUND, of Austria. Sales & Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of EnBW, supplies electricity, gas, district heating and energy related services to business customers in Germany. VERBUND is active throughout the value chain in the electricity sector, in particular but not exclusively in Austria and Germany. The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not raise competition concerns, because of the parties' moderate combined market positions and the presence of a number of other strong players. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure. (OL/transl.fl)