Brussels, 29/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has approved, with conditions, the acquisition of joint control of the Austrian multimedia and book company, Libro, by Telekom Austria and by a consortium headed by Unternehmens Invest, with the participation of Deutsche Beteiligungs. The operation also includes the creation of an e-commerce subsidiary of Libro, "Lion", jointly controlled by Libro and Telekom Austria.
Approval, however, was given on condition that Libro withdraws its application for a licence for fixed network telephony in Austria. With this commitment, the Commission considers that the operation will not strengthen Telekom Austria's dominant position on the Austrian fixed telephony market. On the mobile phone market and Internet services, the Commission gives its assurance that there are sufficient rivals and that the combined market shares of the parties will not lead to domination.