31/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - Mergers: Lloyds-PostNL/TNT Post UK. On 31 January, the European Commission gave the go-ahead to the acquisition of joint control over TNT NN1 Limited (TNT Post UK) by Lloyds Banking Group plc (Lloyds) and PostNL NV. Lloyds is a British private equity fund. PostNL is a mail, parcels and support services provider mainly active in the Netherlands. TNT Post UK is a British mail services provider, which focuses mainly on business customers. The Commission assessed the effects of the proposed transaction on the markets for mail services in the United Kingdom and on the markets for cross-border delivery of mail to or from the United Kingdom, where each of TNT Post UK and respectively G3 Worldwide Mail (UK) Ltd (Spring) in which PostNL has a controlling interest are active. Lloyds is not active in any of these markets. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns given the limited market shares of the merged entity. In any event, the actual or potential commercial relationships between the parties predate the entry of Lloyds as a controlling shareholder in TNT Post UK, and therefore there is no change in the market structure on any of these mail delivery markets. The operation was examined under the normal merger review procedure. (FG/transl.fl)