|
11 March 2008 - The European Court of Justice has ruled against Spain's energy regulator, which previously succeeded in blocking a takeover attempt of Endesa by Germany's E.ON.
"Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Community law," the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said in a press release.
The statement was made in reference to the refusal by Spain's energy regulator CNE to withdraw certain merger conditions imposed on Germany's energy giant E.ON during its bid to acquire Spain's Endesa.
The CNE ignored warnings and demands by the Commission to remove restrictive conditions attached to the merger, prompting the Commission to refer the case to the ECJ.
E.ON ultimately withdrew its Endesa bid due to concerns about shareholder losses and 'unpredictable lawsuits'. But the expiry of the bid does not relieve CNE from obligations to remove regulatory obstacles to merger bids by other non-Spanish firms, according to the EU court.
"The fact that E.ON's public offer failed does not necessarily mean that it was absolutely impossible to implement the [Commission's] decisions, given that it was, for example, still possible formally to remove the provisions contrary to them," the Luxembourg-based court said.
| 
Articles 
| View all PennWell sites | View all PennWell events
Add RSS Feed
