EU Approves Nordic Cap’s TietoEnator Bid

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Private equity firm Nordic Capital won permission from the European Commission competition regulator on Tuesday for its attempt to buy Nordic information technology services company TietoEnator (TIE1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research)(TIEN.ST: Quote, Profile, Research).

“The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area or any substantial part of it,” the Commission said in a statement.

When Nordic Capital made an unsolicited offer of 1.11 billion euros ($1.72 billion) for the company in March, TietoEnator said the bid was too low. The IT company's customers include Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) and Ericsson (ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research).

Nordic Capital said in March it aimed to delist TietoEnator and name Harri Koponen, formerly chief executive of Finnish telecoms group Sonera and Kuwaiti National Mobile Telecommunications Co (NMTC.KW: Quote, Profile, Research), as its executive chairman.