Press Release: Mergers: Commission declines Portuguese and Italian requests to consider effects of proposed Gas Natural/Endesa merger on their markets

The European Commission on 27 October 2005 decided that it was not better placed than the Portuguese and Italian competition authorities to examine the effects of the proposed takeover of Endesa by Gas Natural, both Spanish companies, on the Portuguese and Italian markets. The Commission therefore declined the request made by the Portuguese competition authority, subsequently joined by the Italian competition authority, to examine the effects of the proposed concentration on the Portuguese and Italian markets.