Oil majors operating in Brazil have closed ranks to oppose a proposed merger between energy contractors Subsea7 and Saipem, and antitrust agency Cade has asked the…
Oil majors operating in Brazil have closed ranks to oppose a proposed merger between energy contractors Subsea7 and Saipem, and antitrust agency Cade has asked the two firms to provide its probe with new data on Friday, public documents seen by Reuters show.
The resulting new firm, to be called Saipem7, would have a strong enough position to impose additional costs, delay projects and pressure some clients into exclusive long-term contracts, Brazil oil industry group IBP said in a November filing to Cade.
On Friday, weeks after receiving the comment from IBP, which represents oil majors in Brazil, Cade asked both firms for more data, saying it lacked information necessary for analysis of the proposed merger.
In separate statements to Reuters, both Subsea7 and Saipem said they were engaging with Cade and relevant authorities in line with terms of their merger agreement filed in July.
IBP declined to comment, and Cade referred Reuters to public documents.
If realized, the combined group will have an order backlog of 43 billion euros ($49.9 billion), revenue of about 21 billion euros and core earnings of more than 2 billion euros, the companies said in their July merger statement.
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Beyond the filing by
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