Brussels, 03/07/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has formulated no objections to the merger operation between the British groups Granada Group Plc and Compass Group Plc. The new entity born from this merger will be called Granada Compass Plc and will be 66.25% held by the Granada shareholders and 33.75% by the Compass shareholders. The merger will then result in a demerger that will see the creation of two new companies, one called Compass Hospitality and which will contain the "hotels and food services" activities and the other called Granada Media that will gather together the media activities. On the British contract food services market (including the preparation, presentation and delivery of food and beverage services to clients and customers), the merger will enable the parties to acquire a combined market share of around 40% and to thus become the largest player in the market. However, the Commission reached the conclusion that competitive pressure will be placed on the entity created by the operation from the other companies present on the market, i.e. Sodexho, present leader, as well as other international players and several small companies active at a local or regional level. On the Irish market for contract food services, the increase of market share is weak and presents a significant change in the structure of the local market where the merged entity will be the third largest company. In the British concession foodservice market (provision of foodservices to the public in travel related locations such as airports and railway stations), the parties will become the largest supplier with high market shares in the airport and railway segments. Nevertheless, the owners of these sites may look for alternative suppliers. Following its assessment, the Commission felt that the operation did not raise serious doubts as to its compatibility with the common market on the British concession foodservice market. Nevertheless, given the strong position of the merged entity in the market, any further acquisitions by the new company would have to be scrutinised very closely.