The European Commission (EC) believes “substantial remedies are needed” before the proposed takeover of TNT Express by UPS can be cleared.
In a merger review speech made on Friday (2 November), Joaquín Almunia, EC vice-president responsible for competition, said that “serious competition concerns would arise” if it went ahead without revisions.
Last month the EC revealed that approval would only come if the resulting company would be challenged enough by other parcel firms.
TNT Express and UPS have since received a statement of objections from the EC but have not made these public.
Almunia did not reveal any further details of what the regulator requires from the merger in the speech, which he made at a conference on competition policy, law and economics.
