Brussels, 12/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has give its go-ahead to a planned joint-venture in which Gargill Plc, 100% subsidiary of the American agri-food group Gargill, and SBC Holdings (Sandy) Ltd (Banks), will combine their activities in the agricultural merchanting activities in the United Kingdom. Although these companies are significant players in the UK merchanting sector, the merger of their activities is of no concern to the Commission, as farmers across the UK will still have several merchants available locally to market their products. The Commission has also examined the possible interactions between the activities of the joint-venture regarding the acquisition of Cargill's oilseed crushing activities but found no potential foreclosure effects. Cargill and Banks are active on the agricultural products market and achieve their strongest combined market shares - up to 25% - in the purchase of oilseed rape in certain regional markets in the UK.