The EU Commission grants retroactive clearance to the acquisition of a Dutch sand-lime joint venture by German and Dutch companies after they undertook to terminate their joint venture agreement (Haniel / Cementbouw)

"Merger Control: Main developments between 1st May 2002 and 31th August 2002"* The European Commission granted retroactive clearance to the 1999 acquisition of the Dutch sand-lime joint venture CVK by the Haniel group of Germany and Dutch firm Cementbouw after the companies undertook to terminate their joint venture agreement. The agreement, which came to the Commission’s knowledge only this year, brought about a dominant position in the Dutch market for wall building materials for load bearing walls, which is against the consumer interest. Earlier this year, the Commission cleared Haniel‘s consecutive purchases of Fels and Ytong. In the course of these proceedings the Commission found out about the CVK deal. Haniel is a German conglomerate which