Siemens Gamesa's purchase of Senvion assets gets EC nod

The European Commission (EC) has given approval to the acquisition of certain assets of German wind turbine maker Senvion SE (ETR:SEN) by its Spain-based peer Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA (BME:SGRE).

The purchase of Senvion’s onshore wind farm servicing business in Europe, all of the German company’s intellectual property (IP), and its blade manufacturing plants in Portugal does not raise competition concerns, the EC said last week.

The transaction does not include Senvion’s wind turbine manufacturing business or offshore service contracts. However, the acquisition of the IP could have potentially given Siemens Gamesa a competitive edge in winning service contracts for Senvion’s offshore turbines. Siemens Gamesa has addressed this issue by offering commitments concerning offshore service activities, which the EC ultimately deemed unnecessary. The European competition regulator concluded that any advantage that Siemens Gamesa might gain in this regard does not prevent current owners of Senvion’s offshore turbines or third parties from servicing the machines.

Senvion GmbH, Senvion’s main unit, filed for self-administration proceedings in April as it was unable to agree on any financing options to secure the continuation of its operations.

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