Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
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Anticipated Acquisition Of Qinetiq’s Under Water Systems Division By Atlas Elektronik
Minister for Consumer Affairs and Competition Kevin Brennan yesterday announced that he has cleared Atlas Elektronik’s proposed acquisition of QinetiQ’s underwater systems division.
The acquisition remains subject to statutory undertakings from Atlas which address certain public interest concerns that have arisen.
The undertakings have been accepted instead of referring the merger to the Competition Commission for further investigation. This followed a public interest intervention which led to a report form the Office of Fair Trading and two rounds of public consultation.
The undertakings place a number of binding requirements on the new owners which effectively address the public interest concerns that had been identified relating to:
· the protection of information sensitive to the UK,
· the maintenance of certain strategic capabilities within the UK and
· ensuring the continued independence and impartiality of research output and advice undertaken by the enterprise being acquired.
The final undertakings are being published along with the Office of Fair Trading’s report and can be found on the BIS website at:
Notes to editors
1. Section 59 of the Enterprise Act 2002 empowers Ministers to intervene in mergers to take appropriate measures to protect public interest considerations specified in Section 58 of that Act. In this case an intervention was made on the basis of national security (see the then BERR Press Notice 2009/166 of 15 May 2009). The OFT’s report considering the public interest issues raised by the merger was submitted to the Secretary of State on 29 June 2009.
2. Under Paragraph 3(2) of Schedule 7 to the Enterprise Act 2002, the Secretary of State may decide to accept statutory undertakings from the relevant parties as an alternative to referring the merger to the Competition Commission. Such undertakings must be published for consultation before they can be accepted. The draft undertakings were first published 10 July and proposed modifications to the draft undertakings were subsequently published on 26 August. Following expiry of the consultation period, the undertakings have been accepted in the form they were published on 26 August.
Department for Business, Innovation & Skills
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is building a dynamic and competitive UK economy by: creating the conditions for business success; promoting innovation, enterprise and science; and giving everyone the skills and opportunities to succeed. To achieve this it will foster world-class universities and promote an open global economy. BIS - Investing in our future.
