Brussels, 05/11/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to approve the operation between Vidacaixa and Swiss Life España (SLE), belonging to Swiss Life Insurance and Pension Company Holding. The operation will be executed through Vidacaixa's purchase of SLE for around EUR 55 million. Both Vidacaixa and SLE are active in the provision of different modalities of life and non-life insurance and re-insurance services. Whilst Vidacaixa operates on an EU basis, SLE is exclusively present in Spain. The Commission observed that the only market where the activities of the parties overlap is Spain and the economic activity life insurance. It therefore thoroughly examined this segment of the market and observed that the combined part of the market will not exceed 20% and there remains a sufficient number of strong competitors.