EC clear proposed acquisition of Altadis by Imperial Tobacco, subject to conditions
On 18 October, the European Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of Altadis by Imperial Tobacco at Phase I, subject to divestment of a number of Imperial's brands in certain national markets. These brands include roll-your-own tobacco in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, pipe tobacco in Finland and France, and cigars in Greece.
The Commission found that the merger would not raise concerns in the cigarette market, due to the fact that the horizontal overlaps between the firms are fairly limited and that the new entity would continue to face competition from strong competitors such as Philip Morris and BAT.
William Bishop, Andrea Coscelli and Valter Sorana assisted Imperial Tobacco throughout the proceedings.
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