Washington, Mar 13: The US justice department on Friday cleared the way for Coopers and Lybrand and Price Waterhouse to go ahead with a 13billion dollars merger into the world's largest accounting and consultancy firm.Source close to the talks said the European Union will clear it too."The justice department has closed its investigation into the merger of price waterhouse and coopers and lybrand, clearing them to merge," justice department spokesman michael gordon said. "We worked closely with the europeans on their investigation".
A US source close to the talks said the Europeans would issue no `statement of objection' and clear the way for the merger as well. A `statement of objection' would involve a further investigation into the merger.
In Brussels, Belgium, commission spokesman, Stefan Rating called that the report premature, saying: "There will be a meet later on Friday between (commission) officials and (competition commissioner Karel) Van Miert to decide whether or not to send a statement ofobjections (to the two companies)."
Even if the EC decided not to forward any objections to the planned merger, it would still have to consult with EU national antitrust experts, Rating said.
On Rating's comments, the US source reiterated the EU would, in fact, announce it was not issuing a statement of objection. And that, the source said, would effectively translate into a clearance for the merger.
The heads of the two firms issued a statement expressing their gratitude and noting they had received no statement of objection yet from the European Union.
"Our firms are extremely gratified that the US justice department, following a lengthy review, has said that it finds no reason to oppose our combination," said a statement from Nicholas Moore, chairman of Coopers and Lybrand International and chairman-designate of the merged firm, and James Schiro, ceo of Price Waterhouse and ceo-designate of the merged firm. "This is a major step forward which moves us that much closer to fulfiling our aim ofcreating the world's premier professional service organisation," the statement, which was issued in New York, said. "With respect to regulatory clearance by the European Commission, we have not received a statement of objections," the statement said. "While the commission has not yet reached a formal conclusion we hope to receive unconditional clearance in due course."The firms must also get approval for their merger in Canada, Australia, Switzerland and South Africa.
