Brussels, 11/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has approved an agreement whereby cruise operators Carnival Corp. of the United States and Britain's P&O Princess plc will create a dual listed company structure. Last July the Commission cleared the project, following a detailed probe but the situation was different at that time. P&O has in effect agreed to the buyout offer made by its competitor Carnival but was still negotiating a merger with Royal Caribbean. The merger with the latter had been authorised by the British authorities because the required turnover thresholds had not been reached that would have necessitated an enquiry by Community bodies. The Commission's analysis into the merger between P&O and Carnival took into account the concentration between P&O and Royal Caribbean. At the end of October, Royal Caribbean abandoned the project and the agreement with P&O and Carnival was transformed into a simple merger. On 8 January the two parties were obliged to put in a new notification, which was already done by 8 January. The new project presented to the Commission foresees the creation of a dual listed company but which will not lead to a transfer of assets from Carnival to P&O. On the contrary, the two companies will be managed and operate as if they were a single economic entity with boards of directors and an identical management. Each company, will nevertheless have its own distinct identity. The investigation of the Commission confirmed that the operation would not be very different from the previous take-over bid approved last July. The relevant markets and competition will not be dramatically affected .