Brussels, 17/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has approved the joint acquisition of the Austrian electricity company, Steierische Wasserkraft- und Elektrizität (Steweag), by Ôsterreichische Elektrizitätswirtschafts AG (Verbund) and Energie Steiermark Holding AG (Estag). The project includes integration of the current Verbund and Estag activities in the field of electricity distribution in Austria within Steweag, which was hitherto fully controlled by Estag. The latter is a holding company with various electricity distributing companies in Styria. Verbund, for its part, is an electricity company whose main activity is the production and distribution of electricity that it generates to industrial clients and to distributor companies. The Commission inquiry established that the partial liberalisation of the Austrian electricity market, initiated in 1999, diminished Verbund's share in supplying to sub-distributors and to major clients that now have other supply sources from abroad. The Commission concluded that the operation did not pose a competition problem.