The EU Commission conditionally approves a merger between German and Dutch electricity undertakings (RWE / Essent)

"RWE/Essent: On the Borderline"*I. Introduction On 29 April 2009, the Commission was notified by RWE Aktiengesellschaft (“RWE”) of its intent to acquire sole control of ESSENT N.V. (“Essent”) by way of a private offer. The Commission’s investigation revealed that the proposed transaction would not raise competition concerns on the wholesale, retail or trading electricity markets in the Netherlands, nor on most of the electricity and gas markets in Germany, as RWE‘s and Essent‘s joint market shares are moderate and a sufficient number of competitors would remain in the market after the merger. The Commission reached the same conclusion on gas markets in the Netherlands, including regarding retail sales of low calorific gas to large industrial customers in the Netherlands where parties