Wednesday 23 March 2016

EU approves Statoil Fuel’s takeover of Shell unit

The proposed buyout of Shell’s Danish retail and wholesale fuels business by Statoil Fuel and Retail (SFR) has been approved by the European Commission.

It is however conditional upon an extensive commitments package including the divestment of 205 petrol stations and Shell’s commercial fuels business.

The Commission had concerns the merger could have led to Danish customers paying more for for fuel, diesel, gas and light heating oil.

The Danish fuels business, Dansk Fuels, owned by Shell operates in Denmark under the Statoil brand via its subsidiary.

SFR operates in Denmark under the Statoil brand and is controlled by a Canadian company.

The Commission stated: “The Commission found that the commitments address the competition concerns identified and concluded that the proposed transaction, as modified by the commitments, would raise no competition concerns.

“The divestiture will create a national player which is capable of replacing the lost competitive constraint resulting from the transaction both at the national level and at the local level. The decision is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments.”