Brussels, 23/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - The joint acquisition between the German bearing manufacturer INA Holding Schaeffler KG (INA), associated to the American International Group insurance company, and SNFA, the second largest European maker of precision anti-friction bearings, will not be taking place. The interested parties have made it known to the European Commission that they are giving up their project. The operation had been the subject of a detailed inquiry by the services of Competition Commissioner Mario Monti since 23 October 2003 because of the major repercussions that it would have produced on the precision bearings market in the machine tool industry and in the aerospace sector. (See EUROPE of 25 October, p.10). The investigation confirmed that the operation would considerably reduce competition on the market for precision angular contact ball bearings (ACBBs) in Western Europe as it would have brought together the two largest players, and the strongest overall in terms of quality, reliability, innovation and breadth of portfolio. None of the remaining competitors, whether the Swedish supplier SKF or the Japanese company NSK, or other smaller players, would have been able to exert a sufficient and effective competitive pressure on INA. The Commission also noted that customers would be unlikely to exert a sufficient check on INA's pricing strategy since most machine tool and spindle manufacturers are small businesses with limited bargaining power. Given the strong reservation expressed in a statement of objections addressed to them by the Commission on 19 December 2003, the companies concerned preferred to abandon the project, to the Commission's satisfaction.