Press Release: Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of Hungarian Exchanges and Central Clearinghouse and Depository

The European Commission on 22 March 2005 cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the Hungarian Budapest Stock Exchange ('BSE'), Budapest Commodity Exchange ('BCE') and the Central Clearinghouse and Depositary ('KELER') by a joint venture comprising the Austrian undertakings Wiener Börse AG, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank Aktiengesellschaft, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG, Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG and the Hungarian subsidiary of the German HVB Group, HVB Bank Hungary. The Commission concluded that due to the small size of the targets and the limited impact of the transaction, the operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.