FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German car parts maker Continental (CONG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) expects it will receive antitrust approval from the European Commission for its VDO acquisition by the end of this month, without having to sell off any key assets.
"I can assure the area that they have pointed out (where the EU sees an antitrust problem) is insignificant for the total deal and very, very small," Chief Executive Manfred Wennemer said at the Reuters Autos Summit in Frankfurt.
As when Continental purchased German non-tire rubber company Phoenix in 2004, Wennemer said he offered authorities to sell a business to facilitate approval.
"If you make an offer like that, automatically the time the European Commission has is prolonged by 10 days. So we were completely aware that by us making the offer to sell off this business the date would be pushed to November 29," he explained.
He declined to say which assets might have to be sold or how many millions in revenue they generate.
"It's so insignificant. We also sold off three businesses when we did Phoenix; did you find out which ones they were? In one case we just had to sell a machine, to make sure that one of our competitors could start competition," Wennemer added.
Despite the 10 working-day delay in approval, Continental was optimistic that it was only a matter of days before Brussels would give it the green light.
"We are very confident that it's going to be finished by the end of November, but the Commission always has the right to go into Phase II, and then it takes more time," he said.
He declined to give further details about the restructuring of VDO, explaining that this would take two to three months after the deal closes before they could reveal any news. Continued...
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