Brussels, 16/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - The President of Canadian aluminium group Alcan, Travis Engen, has said that he is "confident" of his group's chances of getting the go-ahead from the European competition services for its planned merger with French industrial group Pechiney. In an interview granted to French economics daily Les Echos, Mr Engen indicated that DG Competition had reacted very positively to the information the group provided it with. "The discussions we had with Mario Monti's 'merger task force' confirmed our own analysis of all markets for which putting Pechiney and Alcan's activities together may have been problematic", he said. The Commission has begun its first phase of inquiry into the initially hostile take-over bid launched by Alcan on Pechiney last summer, and should return its decision on 29 September. Alcan, which hopes to avoid an in-depth inquiry as this would invalidate its bid, is getting very seriously involved in discussions with Mario Monti's services, and seems optimistic: "the solutions we have come up with are perfectly adapted to solving the problem which were identified when we first approached Pechiney in 1999", said Mr Engen. Commissioner Monti's spokesperson, Amelia Torres, did not wish to comment on the progress the dossier has made because "that would not help the procedure". She added that whether a take-over bid is hostile or amicable makes no difference to the Commission's legal and economic assessment. It is worth noting that Alcan and Pechiney already tried to get together in 199, together with the Swiss group Algroup, and notified the operation to the European services, but Pechiney withdrew from the project without even waiting for the Commission's position, which they anticipated would be negative. Mast summer, Alcan put the project back on the table and Pechiney, initially hostile, finally accepted an offer that had been increased by 48.50 EUR per share.