Competition And Markets Authority News

A project to transform the Port Talbot into a major hub for floating offshore wind (FLOW) and green energy development has come one step closer to securing a share of up to $200 million (£160 million) of UK Government funding.The UK Government has agreed to take forward the Future Port Talbot project and the Port of Cromarty Firth to undergo due diligence as part of the next stage of its Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS).The due diligence process…

Finnish engineering groups Konecranes and Cargotec decided on March 29 to cancel their planned merger after the United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the transaction, citing competition issues.The British watchdog decided to block the potential 4.5 billion euro ($5.0 billion) deal earlier on March 29.The merger, which would combine engineering group Konecranes and cargo handling machinery maker Cargotec, would harm competition in the supply of container handling equipment products…

The Norwegian Competition Authority has rejected the proposed merger between Scandinavian offshore accommodation/construction support providers Prosafe and Floatel.Oslo-listed accommodation services player Prosafe in a press release said that it will study the decision in detail, and expects to decide on whether to appeal shortly and within the deadline within three weeks.The company owns and operates semi-submersible accommodation vessels operating at present in the North Sea region and off Latin America.Last month the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority raised similar concerns that it could drive up prices to unsustainable levels…

Eurotunnel reluctantly sold to its subsidiary, the Calais-to-Dover ferry business, MyFerryLink the Danish DFDS, the competitor of the Channel Tunnel reports Le Monde. The company is a forced seller of the service because of antitrust action. It said it had wanted to sell the business to a workers' cooperative, SCOP SeaFrance, rather than to DFDS. "The group, regretting that SeaFrance SCOP did not have the necessary support to make a takeover offer, ads engaging accept the tender submitted by DFDS for leasing ships Berlioz and Rodin," the group said in a statement. On January 9, the British appellate court for Competition (Competition Appeal Tribunal) upheld the position of the authority of the British competition (competition and markets authority…

Ferries owned by Groupe Eurotunnel and run under the MyFerryLink brand can continue to run between Britain and France, after a British court upheld an appeal from a workers' collective which runs run the ferries. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been examining Eurotunnel's move into the ferry market since late 2012, and a tribunal earlier this year ruled that Eurotunnel should cease its MyFerryLink operations. But by a two to one majority decision, the Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the appeal by the Société Coopérative de Production de SeaFrance, the workers' collective involved in running the ferries. The CMA will now consider whether to launch an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Britain's competition regulator has told Groupe Eurotunnel, the operator of the undersea rail link between Britain and France, it will have to stop operating its separate cross-channel ferry service in the next six months and find a buyer for the ships, confirming a decision it made in May. Eurotunnel immediately said it would appeal an "absurd" decision, which it said would mean higher prices for consumers and put 600 people out of work. Groupe Eurotunnel operator started to operate services on the Dover-Calais crossing in 2012 under the MyFerryLink brand when it acquired three ferries from the now-defunct SeaFrance service owned by French railways operator SNCF. "Eurotunnel will be given six months to stop running services from the date of an order to that effect.