Brussels, 26/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 25 February, the European Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of consumer credit company Cofidis by the retail banker and insurer Crédit Mutuel. Both companies are based in France. According to a Commission press release, the horizontal overlaps are limited to the consumer credit markets in France and Belgium, where market share for the new entity is not of a high enough proportion to worry Commission competition authorities. A vertical relationship would be possible given a possible link between Crédit Mutuel acting as an insurance company and Cofidis' presence as a distributor of certain insurance products. The Commission points out, however, that Cofidis has a very marginal presence as a distributor and the two companies' shares in the markets concerned are very small. (C.D./transl.rh)