Brussels, 25/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 25 February 2008, the European Commission authorised the plans of the company Permira Holdings Limited (Channel islands) to take over the Japanese company Arysta LifeScience Corporation. Arysta is a specialist in the supply of agrochemicals that protect crops against damage by weeds, insects and disease. Permira is a private equity firm. Permira has an interest in Cognis, a German company which produces, amongst other things, ingredients for the production of agrochemical products (including adjuvants, products which are added to other products to improve their effectiveness, for example to increase their adhesion to plants), and may therefore, theoretically, be a supplier of Arysta and its competitors. The Commission concluded, however, that the planned operation would raise no problems of competition vertically. First of all, Arysta is just one of many purchases of adjuvants, both in the agrochemicals sector and elsewhere. It would therefore not be able to bankrupt the other producers of adjuvants single-handedly if it decided to supply Cognis only. Secondly, the Commission noted a large number of producers of similar products - Cognis would therefore never be in a position to restrict access to these other suppliers for competitors of Arysta. (C.D.)