On 7 April 2008, the Commission decided not to oppose the above notified concentration and to declare it compatible with the common market.

The European Commission has granted clearance under the EU Merger Regulation to the acquisition of joint control of Euro Heat Pipes (EHP) of Belgium by EADS Astrium SAS of France, belonging to the EADS group of France and Germany, and Theodorus I and Theodorus II, both investment funds controlled by the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) of Belgium. ULB is a university in Brussels operating scientific parks and an academic hospital. EADS is active in commercial and military air sectors, civil and military helicopters, spacecrafts and electronic defence systems, as well as, through EADS Astrium, design, development and supply of space systems. EHP is active in the design, development, production and testing of thermal control systems used in spacecrafts and satellites. The operation was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

• For Theodorus I and Theodorus II: investment funds controlled by ULB.
• For ULB: French university in Brussels operating scientific parks and an academic hospital.
• For EADS: commercial and military air sectors, civil and military helicopters, spacecrafts and electronic defence systems, as well as, through EADS Astrium, design, development and supply of space systems.
• For EHP: design, development, production and testing of thermal control systems used in spacecrafts and satellites.

The full text of the decision is available only in French 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 website under document number 32008M5060. EUR-Lex is the on-line access to European law.