Spain: CNMC maintains green light on Atlantia-Abertis deal

According to Reuters, Spain’s market regulator stood by its 2017 authorization of a US$18.7 billion bid by Italy’s Atlantia for Spanish rival Abertis. There had been a Spanish government request to revoke the approval earlier last year.

Atlantia’s plan will create the world’s biggest toll road operator with a combined market value of more than €40 billion (US$47.97 billion) which has met with political hostility from Madrid.

Two senior Spanish ministers asked the country’s stock market and merger deal regulator to revoke the approval it granted in October for Atlantia’s bid, which has been cleared by the European Union’s competition regulators.

They complained the regulator should not have authorized the bid because the Italian company had not sought permission from the government to take control of Abertis’s satellite business, strategic for Spain because it manages the nation’s satellite communications system.

Monday the regulator said its authorization complied with Spanish law and said it trusted the takeover bid process could proceed normally.

Full Content: Reuters

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.