Caisse de Depots et Placements du Quebec / Aqueduct Capital (UK) Ltd / Sutton & East Surrey Water Ltd
OFT closed case: Completed acquisition by Caisse de Depots et Placements du Quebec of a 25.1% shareholding in Aqueduct Capital (UK) Limited (including its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sutton & East Surrey Water Limited)
Affected market: Water
No. ME/2550/06
The transaction was completed on 7 April 2006. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec notified the transaction on 21 July 2006. The extended statutory deadline expires on 4 September 2006.
On the basis of the information available to it, the Office of Fair Trading has decided that the completed acquisition by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec of a 25.1% shareholding in Aqueduct Capital (UK) Limited (including its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sutton & East Surrey Water Limited) does not trigger a reference to the Competition Commission under the Water Industries Act1991 because the OFT does not believe that it is or may be the case that Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has control over two water enterprises.
The OFT also considered whether a relevant merger situation had been created for the purposes of its duty under section 22 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (the Act) and in this respect, does not believe that it is or may be the case that a relevant merger situation has been created because neither the UK turnover test nor the share of supply test in section 23 of the Act is met.