By Tom Fairless
FLORENCE, Italy--The European Union's antitrust chief said he
doesn't expect to block any more mergers before he leaves office at
the end of October, and indicating that his department is set to
approve Liberty Global PLC's (LBTYA) 4.9 billion euro ($6.3
billion) takeover of Dutch cable operator Ziggo NV (ZIGGO.AE).
"I don't expect any other negative decisions (on mergers) until
the end of October," Joaquin Almunia said Friday in a speech in
this Italian city.
Mr. Almunia also said the European Commission was pressing ahead
with its investigation into whether Russian energy giant OAO
Gazprom (GAZP.RS) is harming competition in Central and Eastern
European gas markets.
The commission, which acts as the EU's central antitrust
authority, opened a detailed investigation of Liberty's purchase of
Ziggo in May, saying that the deal could increase the merged
entity's negotiation power towards content owners and television
channel suppliers. A decision on the case is due by Nov. 3.
The commission is also reviewing Facebook Inc.'s (FB) $19
billion purchase of messaging system WhatsApp. Mr. Almunia is due
to decide by Oct. 3 whether to approve the deal or open a more
detailed investigation if he sees potential risks to competition.
The latter course would likely leave a final decision to Mr.
Almunia's successor, former Danish economy minister Margrethe
Vestager.
Regarding the commission probe into OAO Gazprom, Mr. Almunia
said, "The investigation will not stop."
When it opened a formal investigation two years ago, the
commission said Gazprom may have hindered the free flow of gas
across EU countries, prevented the diversification of gas supply,
and imposed unfair prices on its customers by linking the price of
gas to oil prices.
Gazprom approached the commissioner earlier this year to discuss
a possible settlement with the EU, but those talks were suspended
due to the upheaval in the Ukraine, Mr. Almunia said.
Write to Tom Fairless at tom.fairless@wsj.com
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