Brussels, 08/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has authorised the acquisition of Britain's United Biscuits Plc by the American food giant Nabisco. This operation, taking the form of a collective takeover bid through the joint venture Finalrealm, could have raised serious competition problems in the United Kingdom and to a lesser extent in Finland, Norway and Sweden. Owned by Nabisco, Finalrealm is a venture formed by the American giant with a Deutsche Bank subsidiary, the venture capital firms Cinven and PAI, and the American investment company HMTF (Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst), which controls The Horizon Biscuits Company Ltd, another biscuit maker with a strong position on the markets in question. To make the operation possible, HMTF agreed to pull out of the joint venture, selling its minority share in Finalrealm to its partners. As this measure removed the risk of a dominant position, the Commission decided to authorise the acquisition of United Biscuits.