The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of joint control of three current subsidiaries of General Electric (GE) active in the silicone business (together “OSi Europe Business”), by General Electric Company (“GE”) of the US and Bayer AG of Germany. After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.

GE is a global diversified technology and services company. Bayer is a diversified international chemical and pharmaceutical corporation.

The proposed transaction transfers OSi Europe Business from GE’s sole control to the joint control of Bayer and GE, partly through incorporation into a pre-existing joint venture (JV) GE Bayer Silicones GmbH & Co. KG (“GEBS”), partly in the framework of a newly created joint venture. With the creation of GEBS in 1998, GE and Bayer pooled all their silicone activities in the EEA and some other countries (see IP/98/528). In that context, they had agreed to incorporate all future European acquisitions in the silicone sector into GEBS.

The proposed acquisition will not lead to a structural change on the EEA or global silicone markets. GE already has sole control of OSi Europe Business and joint control of GEBS within the EEA and the acquisition will have no impact on GE´s ownership of other subsidiaries outside the EEA. Apart from its share in GEBS, Bayer is not active in any silicone business, within or outside of the EEA. In addition, the Commission´s examination showed that the horizontal overlaps between the activities of GE and Bayer are limited on the silicone markets concerned and that on these markets, the joint ventures concerned will continue to face several strong, effective competitors with significant market shares. More information on the case can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/mergers/cases/index/m83.html#m_4146

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