Romania's anti-trust body has approved the acquisition of NIS Petrol, the local unit of Serbia's U.S.-sanctioned and Russian-controlled sole refiner NIS, by metallic construction components manufacturer Argenta.
The Competition Council cleared the acquisition, finding no horizontal overlaps between the activities of parties involved, it said in a document published last week. Although the transaction may be considered a form of vertical integration, the council concluded that it would not create affected markets or significantly impede effective competition in Romania, as the market shares held by the parties in their respective markets were below the 30% threshold stipulated by the rules governing economic concentrations.
NIS Petrol operates in the oil sector, with activities including onshore exploration, development and extraction of crude oil, wholesale trading in crude oil and petroleum products derived from refining, and retail sales of finished petroleum products through a network of 19 filling stations.
In July, Serbia's NIS said it entered into a share purchase agreement to sell its entire equity interest in its Romanian subsidiary, without disclosing the purchasing party, after announcing earlier that it was considering withdrawing from Romania due to difficulties its upstream and downstream operations face there.
Original story Romania clears Argenta's acquisition of Serbia's NIS local unit | Southeast Europe Deals News | SeeNews
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