Brussels, 15/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 13 June, the European Commission authorised the creation of a joint venture between Wärtsilä Technology Oy (Wärtsilä), a Finnish manufacturer of ship propulsion and power plant solutions, and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), a Korean shipbuilder. The Commission's investigation found that the planned deal would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) given the limited scope of activities of the joint venture, which will produce only one type of engine (dual fuel engines) mainly for the Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese markets.
The planned deal would give Wärtsilä and HHI joint control over a newly created joint venture, which would produce ship propulsion engines (Wärtsilä50 DF), mainly for the Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese markets. These engines, which can use either liquefied natural gas or oil based fuels, are used in LNG tankers. The Commission's examination showed that, in light of the limited scope of its activities, the joint venture would not bring about substantial changes on the market for ship propulsion main engines. Similarly, the deal would be unlikely to have anti-competitive effects on vertically related markets, given that the parties combined market shares would remain below a level indicating market power and the increase resulting from the deal would be very small, including on the market for servicing and maintenance, which is the only EEA market on which the parties would have a market share above 25%. Moreover, the Commission concluded, that the proposed transaction would not create any risk of coordination in any of the markets on which the parties' activities overlap outside the joint venture. (ol)