By Simon Zekaria - 10th March 2004
European Commission regulators have issued a “no comment” call on reports they are on the verge of detailing competition concerns about the proposed tie-up between software giants Oracle and Peoplesoft.
News agency Reuters reports an un-named source claiming the EU executive will file a ‘statement of objections’ to the companies either this week or the next.
But a spokeswoman for EU competition commissioner Mario Monti told this website: “No comment. We are reviewing this case. It is under investigation”.
“The deadline for a decision is May 11.”
The ‘statement of objections’ is the first stage in the EU’s antitrust procedure that could continue as a full-blown merger inquiry into the potential effects of market monopolisation.
Brussels is concerned that the Oracle/PeopleSoft merger would create anti-competitive effects in the business software market.
US antitrust officials are already in the midst of challenging the tie-up in the American courts.
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