Brussels, 11/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has approved the creation of a joint venture called European Salt Company (ESCO) between Germany's Kali & Salz AG and Solvay AG of Belgium. ESCO will combine the parent companies' salt production and sales businesses, thus creating Europe's second largest producer of crystallised salt (after Kazoo of the Netherlands). K+S would hold 62% of ESCO and Solvay 38% but Solvay will retain control of facilities related to the production of salt and brine for its internal consumption in various chemical processes. The joint venture will have sole responsibility for producing salt and selling it to third parties and will have production facilities primarily in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands but also in Spain, Portugal and Italy. The Commission examined the impact of the deal on the EEA, where around 21 million tonnes of salt were consumed in 2000, about 5 million tonnes of which was produced by K+S and Solvay. It concluded that ESCO would be sufficiently constrained by Kazoo, Salins du Midi (France), Südsalz (Germany) and Salt Union (UK). ESCO will hold a high share of the market in de-icing salt in Scandinavia but the investigation found that customers (mainly local authorities) exercise considerable countervailing buyer power and allot orders in a transparent and open manner. ESCO will also have a high market share in salt for water-softening and pharmaceutical applications in the centre of the EU but there are sufficient alternative suppliers.