Brussels, 24/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of Heller Financial by GE Capital (part of General Electric), both of the United States. In Europe, the two companies provide factoring services and the Commission has found overlaps in three countries (France, Germany and the United Kingdom). But the combined company will continue to face serious competition so there are no competition problems with the acquisition. Concerning the two companies' provision of finance to companies acquiring business equipment, there are overlaps in nine Member States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK) but in none of these countries does their combined market share exceed 15%. The Commission found that there were no competition problems in other sectors of the companies' activities and authorised the transaction.