Brussels, 02/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - The proposed acquisition raises no competition problems for the European Commission, which on Friday authorised the Dutch company to continue its offensive against its Luxemburg competitor. The Commission's only worries concerned the market for heavy section beams, but the solutions put forward by Mittal responded sufficiently to these concerns, says a press release issued on Friday. The geographical locations of the two companies raises no problems within the European Economic Area (EEA) and their activities, by kinds of product, overlap only in the manufacture and direct sale of a certain number of long carbon steels, says the Commission. It states in particular that Mittal is not active in stainless or speciality steel, where Arcelor is active. The transaction will not lead to problems of increased market share and the new entity will continue to face competition from a number of large companies on each of the relevant markets, with the exception of the market for heavy section beams. On this, the new entity would hold a significant share of the total EEA production capacity, and would be able to restrict alternatives for consumers. The other competitors active in the market would be much smaller in terms of production capacity, geographical coverage and product range. Mittal has offered to divest two Arcelor heavy and medium section steel mills in Germany (Unterwellenborn) and in Italy (Pallenzano), and a Mittal section and bar mill in Poland. The three plants together account for around 10% of the total production capacity for heavy section products in the EEA and the Commission concluded that the remedies would effectively restore competition.