UAE’s e& offers concessions after EU alleges subsidies in PPF deal

UAE telecoms giant e& Group has offered concessions aimed at allaying the European Union’s (EU) concerns it may be benefiting from distortive foreign subsidies in its bid for some of Czech telecoms company PPF’s assets, EU competition regulators said on Monday.

The move by e&, formerly called Etisalat, came a month after the European Commission kicked off an investigation into an unlimited guarantee from the UAE and a loan from UAE-controlled banks that directly facilitated the deal.

The EU executive, which acts as the competition watchdog in the 27-country bloc and is using its powers under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), said it had sufficient indications that e&’s foreign subsidies distort the EU internal market.

“We can confirm that remedies were submitted and that the new legal deadline is December 4,” a Commission spokesperson said in an email without providing details.

Its previous deadline for a decision on whether to clear or block the deal was October 15.

e& did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FSR, which went into effect last year, allows the EU to target unfair foreign state support to their companies acquiring EU businesses or taking part in EU public tenders.

Read: EU probes e& Group deal to acquire Czech PPF Group’s telecoms assets