EU approves KPN’s Getronics purchase

According to an Associated Press report, European Union regulators yesterday approved KPN of the Netherlands’ EUR766 million (USD1.08 billion) acquisition of IT services company Getronics, deciding the takeover would not violate EU competition rules. In its opinion, the EU concludes the crossover in KPN and Getronics’ business is ‘limited’ and the enlarged KPN will continue to face ‘several strong effective competitors’ after the takeover. Fixed line and broadband internet access provider KPN sought the deal to position itself as a market leader in the Dutch ‘workspace management’ sector. Getronics provides IT services in 25 countries and works with companies to ascertain what IT and communications equipment could improve their operations and then helps them install and manage it.