Brussels, 27/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has authorised the acquisition of Alvis plc, a UK-based manufacturer of armoured combat vehicles, by the American company General Dynamics Corporation. It does not feel that this operation will cause any competition problems in Europe, because the overlaps in the activities of the two companies are limited, and because there are other large and capable competitors in the market, such as Ilveco and Fiat-Oto-Melara in Italy, GIAT/Renault/Panhard in France, Patria in Finland, Krauss-Maffei and Rheinmetall in Germany, and United Defense in the United States.
General Dynamics (GD) is a public company active in business aviation, defence systems, mission-critical information systems and technologies, shipbuilding and marine systems as well as land and amphibious combat vehicles and systems. Alvis is also a public company, which designs, develops and produces armoured combat vehicles and military land systems.
After the operation, General Dynamics, which was formerly present in Europe only in Spain, Austria and Switzerland, will extend its presence on the European combat vehicles market to the United Kingdom and Sweden, according to a European Commission press release.
The press release states that the Commission's investigation showed that the market for this type of vehicle can be divided into five segments: main battle tanks, medium-weight wheeled and tracked armoured vehicles, light-weight armoured vehicles, all-terrain vehicles and paramilitary and internal security vehicles. The Commission states that there are no competition issues in any of these segments- or in the infantry fighting vehicles market, if one were to find a separate market there.
As in other cases concerning the defence market, the COmmission has distinguished between European countries with national producers of armoured combat vehicles (where Defence Ministers tend to buy vehicles from their national manufacturers), and those with no national production, which therefore organise public tenders at international level.
Lastly, the Commission stressed that General Dynamics and Alvis have rarely competed on these markets.