Press Release: Mergers: Commission approves proposed acquisition of ABN AMRO assets by Fortis, subject to conditions

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of certain assets of the Dutch banking group ABN AMRO by Belgo/Dutch financial services group Fortis. The Commission's decision is conditional upon the upfront divestiture of ABN AMRO's Dutch factoring subsidiary and part of its commercial banking business in The Netherlands. In light of this commitment, the Commission has concluded that the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.