EU Clears Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Buyout Of French Waste And Water Firms.

The European Commission has unconditionally cleared the acquisition of a sole control over five French environmental and the utility firms Nicollin SAS, Société Méditerranéenne De Nettoiement SAS (SMN), Nicollin Holding Environnement (NHE), Nicollin Eau, and MP3D Groupe by a US based Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Inc. Under the EU Merger Regulation, regulators determined that the transaction presents no competition concerns because the entities operate in distinct, a non-overlapping product and the vertical markets. Consequently, the regulatory assessment was processed under the Commission's simplified merger review procedure. The European Commission has approved the Morgan Stanley Infrastructure's acquisition of sole control over a French waste and water firms including Nicollin SAS. Due to the absence of horizontal overlaps or vertical links between the entities, the notified transaction was examined under the European Commission's simplified merger review procedure.