Press Release: Mergers: Commission clears proposed acquisition of Varian by Agilent, subject to conditions

The European Commission cleared on 21 January 2010 under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Varian Inc by Agilent Technologies Inc, both of the US, by way of purchase of shares. The decision is conditional upon the divestment of Agilent's entire micro/portable gas chromatography instrument business and Varian's entire laboratory gas chromatography, triple quadrupole gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry instrument businesses. In view of the remedies proposed, the Commission has concluded that the operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.