Brussels, 19/06/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has authorised ABN Amro Lease to take over the Dial group in the vehicle leasing sector. A subsidiary of ABN Amro Bank, ABN Amro Lease is a Dutch company operating world-wide in the vehicle and equipment leasing business. Dial is present on the British, French, Spanish, and Italian markets. It groups Dial Contracts, Dial France, Dial Spania and Dial Italia.
The European competition services felt that "on the basis of the narrowest possible market definition (…) the only horizontally affected market would be in Spain where the parties' combined market share would exceed 30%". Nonetheless, states the Commission in its press release, demand is growing 30% per year in Spain and "barriers to entry into this market are low". It considers that "the concentration will therefore not lead to the creation of a dominant position on any market within the Common Market or the European Economic Area".