Xstrata PLC announced July 13 that they received unconditional clearance from the European Commission in relation to its proposed acquisition of Falconbridge Ltd.
The Swiss-based miner is therefore free to proceed with its
all-cash offer without further anti-trust reviews.The only
remaining regulatory condition to Xstrata's offer is
clearance under the Investment Canada Act.
A statement on the company website said, Xstrata remains confident
that the acquisition of Falconbridge will deliver significant net
benefits to Canada and that, accordingly, it will receive the
necessary clearance under the Investment Canada Act.
On July 12, Xstrata increased its fully underwritten all-cash offer
to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Falconbridge not
already owned by the Xstrata group from $52.50 to $59 (in Canadian
funds) in cash per share, or a total of approximately $18.1
billion.
The increased Xstrata offer expires July 21.
