August 19 (SeeNews) - Romania's anti-trust regulator said on Monday it has approved the takeover by local company GSP Offshore of some operations and related assets of X-Petromar production zone owned by OMV Petrom's [BSE:SNP].
"Following a review of the transaction, the Competition Council found that it does not raise significant obstacles to effective competition in the market, in particular by establishing or strengthening of a dominant position," the anti-trust authority said in a statement.
The transaction involves the outsourcing by OMV Petrom of some maintenance operations, port operations and related services, together with related assets and employees of X - Petromar production zone, the council said.
Following the conduct of a public procurement procedure,OMV Petrom and GSP Offshore have concluded a framework agreement for the transfer of the activity from the Production Zone X - Petromar.
GSP Offshore is a member of GSP Holding, a privately-owned company which carries out offshore drilling and construction activities offshore, production of oil equipment, as well as activities in the tourism sector.
OMV Petrom is the largest energy company in Southeast Europe, with an annual group hydrocarbon production of 58.3 million boe in 2018. Austria's OMV Aktiengesellschaft holds a 51.011% stake in OMV Petrom, while the Romanian energy ministry owns 20.64% and the rest is in free float on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
Shares of blue-chip OMV Petrom traded 0.12% higher at 0.4020 lei as at 1359 CET on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
(1 euro=4.7284 lei)