EU Clears OLT Takeover by SNAM and FSI

The European Commission has approved the acquisition of OLT Offshore LNG Toscana by SNAM and the UK’s First State Investments International (FSI), under the EU merger regulation.

According to the Commission, OLT is active in the management of a floating storage and regasification unit for liquefied natural gas in Italy.

SNAM is the holding company of the Snam group, which is active in the development and integrated management of gas infrastructures and, in particular, in the transmission, regasification and storage of natural gas in Italy and other EU countries.

FSI is a company within the asset management division of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, one of Japan’s largest asset managers.

The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, because the companies are not close competitors in the markets where their activities overlap and, in addition, sector-specific regulation is in place to prevent anti-competitive effects arising from the transaction.

The transaction was examined under the normal merger review procedure.