RBB advised Australia-based Orica Ltd. whose proposed acquisition of most of the businesses of Norwegian company Dyno Nobel ASA (‘Dyno’) outside North America and Australia was cleared by the European Commission on 23 May 2006. Both companies are active in the explosives and detonators industry. The Commission's clearance is subject to Orica’s commitment to divest its explosives business in Norway and Sweden, where the merging parties are by far the largest suppliers. The operation would give the merged entity a leading position in the European wholesale initiating systems market. However, the Commission’s investigation showed that the merged entity will face competition from a number of strong competitors that possess considerable excess capacity, which would enable them to defeat any attempts by the merged entity to raise prices.
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