Brussels, 23/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 22 November, the European Commission cleared the planned acquisition of the German natural gas supplier and gas transportation network operator, Saar Ferngas AG (SFG), by Arcelor Luxembourg S.A. (Arcelor), a subsidiary of the ArcelorMittal group, also based in Luxembourg.
SFG is active in wholesale gas supply and retail supply to industrial customers (including power plants), regional short distance gas transmission and gas storage. The Commission's investigation showed that the deal would not give rise to horizontal overlaps but found that there are competitive interactions between the parties' activities in Europe, given that SFG is active in the markets for gas supply to industrial customers and short-distance gas transportation and Arcelor sources gas used for its steel production from, and holds a participation in, Dillinger Huttenwerke (DH), a customer of SFG. The market for downstream gas transportation has been liberalised in Germany and given that 'ArcelorMittal's gas consumption (even including DH) represents a minor percentage of the total gas consumed by industrial customers in Germany at both regional and national level', the Commission concluded that the 'transaction is not likely to give rise to any market restrictions adversely affecting customers'. Arcelor is planning to acquire 76.88% of SFG for €367 million. SFG has a workforce of 150 and 1,700 km of gas pipelines, mainly in Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate. Arcelor says the deal will enable it to improve gas supplies to steel plants in Germany. (C.D.)