European Commission OKs CMA CGM’s CEVA acquisition

The commission concluded the acquisition would not raise competition concerns.    The European Commission announced Thursday it had approved CMA CGM’s proposed acquisition of Swiss company CEVA Logistics.   
   The commission concluded the proposed transaction would not raise competition concerns because of its limited impact on the structure of the freight forwarder and the deep sea and short sea container shipping markets, according to a statement.
   CMA CGM, the fourth-largest container carrier in the world, announced in January a tender offer to acquire up to 27,289,906 additional shares — 49.35 percent — of CEVA’s outstanding shares at 30 Swiss francs each. CMA CGM said it and “persons acting in concert with it” already owned 18,192,034 shares — or about 33 percent of the shares.
   The France-based carrier plans to keep CEVA as an independently listed company with a significant free float on SIX Swiss Exchange. 
   The entire public tender offer is expected to close in mid-April, according to a statement from CMA CGM. 
   The tender offer was preannounced in November, about a month after the two companies said they would “broaden their strategic partnership.”