EC alleges EU merger procedural rules were breached in Sigma-Aldrich acquisition

The European Commission has sent three separate Statements of Objections to Germany’s Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) and its subsidiary Sigma-Aldrich, General Electric and Canon alleging they breached EU merger rules: General Electric, and Merck and Sigma-Aldrich by providing incorrect or misleading information; Canon by implementing a merger before notification and clearance.

The current investigations are limited to the assessment of breaches of the European Union merger procedural rules and will not have an impact on the Commission decisions approving the three mergers, which will remain effective.

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: "We need companies to work with us to ensure fast and predictable merger control, to the benefit of both companies and consumers. But we can only do our job well if we can rely on cooperation from the companies concerned – they must obtain our approval before they implement their transactions and the information they supply us must be correct and complete."