The EU Commission conditionally approves the acquisition of two subsidiaries of the incumbent oil and gas Hungarian company by a German energy supplier (MOL / E.ON)

"A combination of gas release programmes and ownership unbundling as remedy to a problematic energy merger: E.ON / MOL"*1. Introduction Following an in-depth investigation, on 21 December 2005, the Commission approved under the EU Merger Regulation the acquisition of MOL WMT and MOL Storage, two subsidiaries of MOL, the incumbent oil and gas company in Hungary, by E.ON Ruhrgas (‘E.ON‘), a large integrated German energy supplier, subject to conditions and obligations. The two subsidiaries of MOL part of the transaction are active in the wholesale, marketing and trading of gas (WMT), and the storage of gas (Storage). MOL would keep minority shareholdings (25%) in both companies. MOL would also have a put option for two years to sell its gas transmission subsidiary to E.ON. MOL already