Press Release: Mergers: Commission approves proposed joint venture between Hochtief and GeoSea

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of joint control over Beluga Hochtief Offshore (BHO) by the German company Hochtief, currently its sole owner, and the Belgian company GeoSea.

The Commission examined the horizontal overlaps between the parties' activities in the renting of specialised vessels to the offshore industry and a potential vertical relationship between this activity and the downstream market for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of offshore facilities where both Hochtief and GeoSea are active.

In each case, the Commission found that the proposed acquisition would not raise concerns as the companies' shares on the markets at issue are not significant.