Search Results for: Germany

BY RICHARD HURST
SOUTH African Synthetic fuels company, SASOL is reported to be actively seeking further foreign acquisitions in the EU and north America, following its purchase of Germany’s Condea. A spokesman for SASOL said, “It remains the company’s corporate growth strategy to look for at synergistic alliances and joint-ventures on a global basis.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the planned acquisition by Interseroh AG of Hansa Recycling GmbH, using its merger approval powers under the European Coal and Steel Community. Both companies trade in ferrous scrap and are based in Germany, where their services overlap in some regions.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
FINNISH steel companies Rautaruukki and Outokumpu are set to benefit from European Commission funding of Euro 600,000 granted to support the distribution of steel across Europe using alternatives to road transport.

The funded transport project is part of the EU’s PACT programme, which aims to move containers and similar units away from roads to rail, sea and inland waterways.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a detailed investigation into the planned merger between Germany’s Südzucker AG and France’s Saint Louis Sucre S.A., because of concerns that the deal will harm competition in the sugar sector. A preliminary inquiry concluded there were serious concerns linked to Südzucker’s strong position in Belgium and southern Germany, where it commands a sugar market share of 70-90 per cent.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has lodged formal requests for three disputes panels to be set up to rule on steel import restrictions imposed by the USA, in the teeth of opposition from Washington, which is vigorously opposing the move.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPETITION officials are examining a proposed German joint-venture merging the downstream and petrochemical operations of Deutsche Shell GmbH and its rival RWE-DEA. The German Competition Authority has been given the right to adjudicate on the downstream elements by the European Commission, which is itself handling the deal’s petrochemical implications.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared a planned Spanish publishing joint venture between Germany’s Bertelsmann and Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA, of Italy, combining all the book publishing divisions and imprints in Spain and Latin America of Random House and Mondadori.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
WILL there come a day when a genuine European market in health care takes its place among the other landmark achievements of the European Union?

In terms of economic efficiency and the functioning of the internal market, does it make much sense for a million patients in Britain, say, to have to wait sometimes for a year or more for important operations while people in France or Luxembourg can book them for the next day and some German hospitals have barely half their beds filled?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is considering its legal options, after the dismissal of its case brought in New York against Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds, alleging that they had helped promote tobacco smuggling within the EU.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas G.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SIMPLICITY is not one the virtues that is readily associated with the institutions of the European Union, so it is refreshing to note that the European Parliament has recently taken a straightforward step to boost its accountability to the citizens of the continent that it serves.…