The European Commission, on the 29th of April 2008, published notification of complete Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case COMP/M.4949 — Sonepar/Hagemeyer). On 8 February 2008, the Commission decided not to oppose the above notified concentration and to declare it compatible with the common market.

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the Dutch company Hagemeyer's subsidiaries in Austria and Sweden, plus six Hagemeyer outlets in Germany by Sonepar of France. In a second decision, the Commission has also cleared the proposed acquisition of the French company Rexel's German and Luxembourg businesses by Sonepar. The Commission concluded that none of the transactions would significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.

Sonepar, Hagemeyer and Rexel are mainly active in the wholesale distribution of electrical products and installation material as well as the wholesale of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning products and household and consumer electronics in some Member States.

The full text of the decision is available only in English and will be made public after it is cleared of any business secrets it may contain. It will be available:

• From the Europa competition website. This website provides various facilities to help locate individual merger decisions, including company, case number, date and sectoral indexes.
• In electronic form on the EUR-Lex , under document number 32008M4949. EUR-Lex is the on-line access to European law.