EU Commission Vetoes GE Takeover Of Honeywell

ByBridgeNews The European Commission announced July 3 that it had decided to "prohibit" the proposed acquisition by General Electric Co. of Honeywell International Inc. The commission said the key reason for blocking the deal was that the merger "would create or strengthen dominant positions in several markets and that the remedies proposed by GE were insufficient to resolve competition concerns." EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said that the merger would "have severely reduced competition in the aerospace industry and resulted ultimately in higher prices for customers, particularly airlines." Monti said he regretted that the companies involved had not done more to address the competition concerns of the commission.