Italy: The European Union Commission announced it has cleared U.S. agricultural commodity giant Cargill Incorporated's acquisition of the grains and oilseed business of Italy's Pagnan SpA, Dow Jones communicated on March 23. The commission said in a statement there are only limited overlaps in the companies' businesses and that these do not give rise to competition concerns. Pagnan's businesses are focused in Italy, while "Cargill has only a limited presence in that country," the Commission said.

"In addition, there is no significant risk to competition given the small size of Pagnan's businesses and the fact that Pagnan is already a long-time importer of agricultural commodities from Cargill," the Commission added. No financial details of the deal were disclosed.

Cargill seeks to consolidate its grain trading operations in Italy, Jack van den Hoek, head of the company's grain and oilseed operations in the Mediterranean area, said in February. The unit will be absorbed into a newly formed Cargill unit called Pagnan Commerciale SRL.

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