Brussels, 23/08/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to refer the proposed acquisition by the Belgian company Interbrew SA of the brewing and distribution assets of the British company Bass to the UK competition authorities for examination. We recall that Interbrew had proposed, in June, the sum of £2.2 billion for acquisition of the brewing activities of its British counterpart, Bass, an operation that could entail the creation of a dominant position on the market in question. The British authorities mainly fear that the united strength of Interbrew and Scottish and Newcastle would entail the risk of a harmful situation of duopoly.
Although the Community regulation on mergers gives the Commission exclusive power to examine operations of considerable size, it does, however, stipulate that, when the effects of a merger are limited to distinct markets on the territory of a Member State, it could be better if the matter in question were dealt with in application of national competition law in force in the State concerned. Given, on one hand, that the British authorities are currently examining the acquisition by Interbrew of Whitbread's interests in the brewery sector and that, on the other hand, they have several recent studies available on the brewing industry in the United Kingdom, in this case Interbrew/Bass, the Commission came to the conclusion that the Office for Fair Trading (OFT) was best placed for carrying out a detailed examination of the matter, as the risk of dominant position on the beer market is mainly prevalent in the United Kingdom. This Member State now has a maximum of four months in which to tackle the dossier and consider the impact of the operation on its territory.
The Commission has, moreover, authorised the aspects of the operation that concern beer supplies outside the United Kingdom and the provision of flavoured alcoholic beverages in the United Kingdom as the merger operation does not pose a competition problem on these markets.