Brussels, 27/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - Following a formal investigation, the European Commission decided on 20 December that the sale of assets of Gröditzer Stahlwerke and its subsidiaries to another German steel maker, Georgsmarienhütte, does not involve state aid.
The Commission had doubts as to whether the sale concluded between the receivers of Gröditzer - part of the Bundesanstalt für vereinigungsbedingte Sonderaufgaben (BvS) and Georgsmarienhütte (GMH) could be considered to comply with market conditions and whether GMH was paying the market price of the assets. As the successful bidder (GMH) has managed Gröditzer since 1997, the Commission was seeking information about whether all other interested bidders had similar possibilities to participate in the bidding procedure. The Commission concluded that the receivers had offered the other interested bidders the option of carrying out a due diligence assessment as the basis of their bids and the best offer received had come from GMH. The Commission therefore concluded that the price offered by GMH was the highest price that a private investor was prepared to pay and therefore constituted the market price - hence the asset sale did not contain state aid.