Mergers: Commission clears acquisition of Ballyhoura Wind and CCWFL by AAUK2 and MUL

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of Ballyhoura Wind Limited (‘Ballyhoura Wind’) and CCWFL Limited (‘CCWFL’), both of Ireland, by Arjun Alliance UK 2 LP (“AAUK2”) of the UK and Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company Limited (‘MUL’) of Japan. Ballyhoura Wind and CCWFL each hold and operate an onshore wind farm in Ireland. AAUK2 is a limited partnership ultimately controlled by AIP Holdings, an independent infrastructure asset management business focusing on partnerships with institutional investors in the industries of regulated utilities, energy and renewables, and transportation. MUL is a multi-service group, with activities related to, among others, leasing and finance, rental, asset management services, aviation, real estate, environment and energy, healthcare and infrastructure and investment. The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the absence of overlaps between the activities of the companies. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure. More information is available on the Commission's competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.9940.