16 August 2010: Urban and intercity passenger transport
The Autorité de la concurrence will examine
the merger between Veolia Transport and Transdev for the French market
The European Commission has referred to the Autorité de la concurrence for an examination, relative to the French market, of the merger between Veolia Transport and Transdev.
The proposed operation involves the creation of a joint venture between Veolia Environnement and the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, that will take in the activities of Veolia Transport and Transdev. Up to now, Veolia Transport has been controlled by Veolia Environnement and Transdev by the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.
In France, the operation applies primarily to the urban and intercity passenger transport markets outside of the Île-de-France.
This is the fourth operation that the European Commission has referred to the Autorité de la concurrence, at its request, since its creation on 2 March 2009. As a reminder, these operations were the following:
- takeover of Keolis and Effia by the SNCF and the Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec (CDPQ), that also involved the passenger transport markets (in its decision 10-DCC-02, the Autorité de la concurrence authorised the operation subject to commitments / see also press release of 13 January 2010);
- purchase of Tarmac by the Eurovia company, a subsidiary of the Vinci group, in the sector of aggregates, hot-mix bituminous concrete and roadwork (operation undergoing examination);
- acquisition of Eurochem by Univar in the sector of the distribution of amenities and chemical specialties (operation under examination).