Brussels, 09/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has approved the acquisition of the Ahlsell Group, which supplies plumbing/heating, water and sewage, electrical, refrigeration and tool products, by Goldman Sachs, the global investment banking and securities firm, and Cinven, a private equity investments firm. Ahlsell has operations in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and, to a lesser extent, Russia. The Commission's examination of the deal showed that there were no horizontal overlaps between the activities of the parties. In assessing the vertical effects, the Commission noted that Prysmian, a leading energy and cable supplier in Europe, which is part of the Goldman Sachs Group, had limited sales in the markets where Ahlsell operates. Moreover, the Commission noted that the region had other larger distributors than Ahlsell.