The European Commission granted unconditional approval to Finland-headquartered power generator Fortum Oyj's acquisition of Germany-headquartered generator Uniper SE, saying the transaction would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area.

"Fortum and Uniper are important players in the generation of electricity in the Nordic countries, in particular in Sweden," said Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition. "We can approve their proposed merger, in particular because of the high level of interconnectivity between different countries in the Nordic area and because there is significant spare generation capacity in Sweden."

Combined, they will have about a 30% market share in Sweden, the European Commission noted.

Uniper owns more than 36,000 MW of generating capacity in seven European countries and has three natural gas storage facilities in Europe. It trades energy commodities worldwide. It was formed in 2016 through a separation of assets from German utility E.ON SE. Fortum owns about 13,700 MW of generating capacity plus 14,800 MW of combined heat and power production capacity in eight European countries and India.

Fortum announced Nov. 7, 2017, a voluntary public tender offer to acquire all shares in Uniper for a total consideration of €22 per share. E.ON agreed earlier in 2018 to tender its 46.65% stake in Uniper into Fortum's tender offer, and said June 15 that it will receive roughly €3.8 billion. Approval from Russia came in late April. Fortum said it expects the deal to close by June 27.