Metso offer for Svedala gets clearance from EU Commission

METSO Corp. have cleared a major hurdle in their bid to acquire Svedala Industri AB with the announcement that their conditional cash offer of 21 June 2000 has been approved by the EU Commission, subject to certain commitments.

Following its second-phase investigation, the Commission gave the green light to the acquisition but called for certain remedies with respect to concerns over the creation of a dominant market position in key areas of the business.

As a result, Metso have agreed to divest a number businesses representing 6-7% of Metso Minerals' and Svedala's combined net sales. The entire divestiture will include Svedala's current range of jaw crushers, cone crushers and horizontal-shaft impact crushers, certain Svedala screens, feeders and conveyors, as well as Nordberg's current primary gyratory crusher product ranges.

The manufacturing operations to be divested are Svedala Arbra AB and Svedala Mobile Equipment AB in Sweden, and Svedala SA in France. Part of the divestitures will be made to remove overlapping business operations between Metso Minerals and Svedala.

The Australian, Polish and Turkish competition authorities have also approved the acquisition, however completion of the deal is still subject to clearance from the US Federal Trade Commission.