The European Commission has temporarily paused its antitrust review of Hong Kong-listed mining and metals company MMG Limited (1208.HK) in relation to its proposed acquisition of Anglo American’s (AAL.L) Brazilian nickel business.
The EU executive, which serves as the bloc’s competition enforcer, stopped the regulatory clock on November 24. A Commission spokesperson explained that “the ‘clock’ in merger investigations can be suspended if the parties fail to provide, in a timely fashion, an important piece of information that the Commission has requested from them within a prescribed deadline. Once the missing information is supplied, the clock is restarted and the legal deadline for the Commission’s decision is adjusted accordingly.”Reuters reported.
The Commission had previously expressed concerns that the deal, set against a backdrop of global scrutiny over the supply of critical minerals and China’s dominant role in that sector, could allow MMG to divert ferronickel away from Europe, potentially harming European steel producers.
MMG’s largest shareholder is the state-owned Chinese company China Minmetals Corporation (CMC), further highlighting geopolitical sensitivities surrounding the transaction.
The investigation will resume once MMG provides the requested information, at which point the Commission will continue its assessment of the merger’s impact on competition in the European market.