EEX Offers Remedies to Respond to EU Antitrust Concerns Regarding Nasdaq Trading

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) has proposed a set of remedies to address antitrust concerns raised by the European Commission in relation to its bid for Nasdaq’s European energy trading and clearing business. These changes were revealed in an update on the Commission’s website on Tuesday.

EEX, a subsidiary of Deutsche Boerse, presented its proposal on Monday. Due to the Commission’s confidentiality policy, details of the proposal have not been made public. In light of the ongoing review, the Commission extended the deadline for taking a decision on the agreement by two weeks, setting a new deadline of 26 June.

The EU competition watchdog has already sent a questionnaire to market participants, asking for their comments on whether the takeover could enable EEX to increase its market dominance through product bundling and a potential impact on prices. The feedback obtained played a key role in determining the competitive implications of the transaction.

Some clients have raised concerns about the possibility that EEX could consolidate Germany’s position as a central spread hub, potentially at the expense of interest and growth in Nordic markets, which operate under a different system price and contract structure.

In response to these concerns, both EEX and Nasdaq maintained that the merger did not pose a significant risk to competition across the EU, including Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway. They assure that the transaction will not reduce competition between both entities and so far they report positive market reception.