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EU competition authorities have approved the acquisition of Willis Towers Watson for $ 30 billion from Aon, a deal designed to create the world’s largest insurance broker, but which is being investigated by US regulators. Americans.
The European Commission said on Friday it had accepted a package of remedies offered by the two sides, most of which reached a $ 3.6 billion deal. blow in May to download a number of businesses to rival Gallagher. Aon has also offered to sell its German retirement consulting and investment solutions companies to a “suitable buyer”.
The commission’s chief competition officer, Margrethe Vestager, said the package of provisions “ensures that European companies, including insurance companies and large multinational clients, continue to have a good choice and good services when it comes to select a runner suitable for your needs “.
Aon and Willis said getting approval in Brussels was “an important step that demonstrates continued progress toward obtaining regulatory permits for the proposed combination.”
In a joint statement, they added: “Both companies operate in broad and competitive areas of the economy and believe that this approval states that our combination proposal will accelerate innovation on behalf of customers, creating more options in an already dynamic market and competitive “.
But the deal it has a harder path to take in the U.S., the other major market for both companies.
The Department of Justice last month demanded to block the acquisition, saying the combination of two of the three major insurance brokers “would eliminate substantial face-to-face competition and likely lead to higher prices and less innovation, harming American companies and their customers, employees and retirees “.
Aon and Willis expected to close the deal in the third quarter, a completion schedule that had already fallen since the first half of the year as regulatory investigations dragged on.
At a court hearing in the US earlier this week, the brokers pushed for the start date of the September antitrust trial, while a government representative advocated starting in January to allow for preparation time.
In the end, both parties agreed to launch on November 18, but U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton warned that there was a risk that even that date would be postponed because it had been assigned. several cases related to the storm. from the American capital in January.
The agreement is one of the few complex merger probes concluded in Brussels in recent months, following an increase in merger and acquisition activity during the pandemic.
A merger between Nvidia and Arm, which is expected to take place sometime later this year, is expected to receive deep scrutiny from regulators over competition issues.
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