CARL ZEISS WITHDRAWS EU FILING ON LEICA/GEC AIRBORNE PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT JOINT VENTURE.

German optical glass maker Carl Zeiss-Stiftung has withdrawn an application requesting clearance of its plans to join a United States venture with Leica Systems whilst under scrutiny from the European Commission's Merger Task Force, which launched a second-stage probe into the deal on October 26. The Commission's Competition Directorate-General, DG IV, said in a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Communities that the filing was withdrawn on December 1, without going into detail. In October, it expressed concerns about giving its stamp of approval to the deal, noting it would give the joint company "a virtual monopoly of airborne film cameras" and high market shares for processing equipment. It also disapproved of the teaming up of Carl Zeiss and...