7th Feb 2005 15:00
Dept Trade & Industry07 February 2005 Reference P/2005/45 Date 7 February 2005 GERRY SUTCLIFFE ISSUES EUROPEAN INTERVENTION NOTICE IN RELATION TO PROPOSEDACQUISITION Gerry Sutcliffe, Minister for Competition, Consumers and Markets, has todayasked the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to investigate the proposed acquisitionby Finmeccanica of parts of BAE Systems' military communication and avionicsbusinesses. Mr Sutcliffe has issued a European Intervention Notice, which will require theOFT to report back to DTI Ministers on any national security concerns raised byinterested parties. The proposed acquisition is already being examined oncompetition grounds by the European Commission. It is not uncommon to look at the effects of defence mergers on thegrounds of national security The OFT is to make its report to the Secretary of State by 21 March 2005. Notes for Editors 1. Finmeccanica and BAE Systems announced on 27 January 2005 that they hadsigned a final agreement in relation to the EuroSystems transaction. Under theagreement: • BAE Systems Avionics Limited and Galileo Avionica SpA will merge, owned 75% by Finmeccanica and 25% by BAE Systems; • Finmeccanica will acquire BAE Systems' UK Communications business; and • AMS, a joint venture of BAE Systems and Finmeccanica, will be dissolved. BAE Systems will acquire AMS' UK operations and Finmeccanica will acquire the Italian operations. In addition, Finmeccanica will acquire the UK Air Traffic Management business of AMS. 2. Copies of the intervention notice are available from the DTI press officeor at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics2/mergerspi.htm 3. Article 21(4) of the EC Merger Regulation (Council Regulation 139/2004 -the Regulation under which this merger was notified to the European Commission)enables Member States to take appropriate measures to protect legitimateinterests and public security is regarded as such a legitimate interest. Section67 of the Enterprise Act 2002 empowers the Secretary of State to intervene inqualifying mergers that are being dealt with under the EC Merger Regulationwhere she is considering taking appropriate measures to protect legitimateinterests and she believes a public interest consideration specified in that Actis or may be relevant. The public interest considerations that may be takeninto account are therefore limited by the Act and Community law. Nationalsecurity, which includes public security, is specified and may be taken intoaccount. Department of Trade and Industry 7th Floor 1 Victoria Street London SW1H 0ET Press Enquiries +44 (0)20 7215 5969/64/73 (Out of Hours) +44 (0)20 7215 3234/3505 Public Enquiries +44 (0)20 7215 5000 Textphone +44 (0)20 7215 6740 (for those with hearing impairment) Press Office Fax +44 (0)20 7222 4382 www.dti.gov.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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