MERGERS : CEMEX WEST-HOLCIN: COMMISSION CONTINUES PROBE.

The European Commission will continue its examination of the proposed merger between cement maker Cemex West, a subsidiary of Cemex Group (headquartered in Mexico), and the Swiss building materials group Holcim. It has rejected Germany's request to refer the case to its national competition authority for review under German law. The German authorities based their request on the argument that the proposed transaction was likely to have a significant impact on competition in the cement markets only in Northern and Western Germany, where Cemex operates. However, the EU executive opened an in-depth investigation, on 22 October 2013, into this 70 million transaction due to competition concerns with regard to both the German and Belgian markets (see Europolitics 4736). It feared that "the transaction may reduce competition in parts of Germany and Belgium where Cemex West is an actual or potential competitor of...