UK to decide on Arcelor’s acquisition of Corus’ sheet piling business
The
UK's anti-trust body, the Office of Fair
Trading (OFT), has referred the completion of Arcelor's acquisition of Corus
UK Limited's hot-rolled steel sheet piling business to the Competition Commission (CC). As previously reported by SteelOrbis back in April of this year, Arcelor SA reached an agreement with Corus
UK to acquire its
UK sheet piling commercial operations.
According to a statement released by OFT, the actualization of this merger, by reducing the number of major suppliers of hot rolled steel sheet piling in
Europe from three to two, may result in a significant lessening of competition within the market for the supply of hot-rolled steel sheet piling in the
UK.
The CC is expected to release its decision by February 24 2005.
Sheet piles are hot-rolled long carbon steel products mainly used in civil engineering.