24 June 2010 - The European Commission clears the "New Eurostar" joint venture, subject to conditions - Gide Loyrette Nouel has advised SNCF:

On 17 June 2010, the European Commission approved the creation of the "New Eurostar" joint venture by French incumbent railway operator SNCF and London Continental Railways (LCR), the rail company that controls Eurostar operations in the United Kingdom through its subsidiary EUKL.

Eurostar is currently the only provider of passenger rail services between London and Brussels and London and Paris.

Before this transaction, Eurostar was run by a cooperation between SNCF, EUKL and the Belgian national railways SNCB. Following its creation, "New Eurostar" will become a stand-alone independent joint venture, controlled by SNCF and LCR. SNCB will retain a non-controlling stake in the joint venture.

The Commission cleared this transaction subject to a certain number of remedies to ensure that new operators have access to the network's routes.

To address the Commission's concerns about the project as initially notified, the parties offered innovative commitments to ensure effective access for new operators to the existing infrastructure so as to offer an increased alternative offer of services to passengers.

The Commission concluded that the transaction, as modified by these commitments, will not raise competition concerns and will help to secure the benefits of the liberalisation of international passenger rail services.

Gide Loyrette Nouel (Paris, Brussels) advised SNCF on the creation of the joint venture and its notification to the European Commission. The team comprised Serge Tatar and Antoine Lelong (Paris) for Mergers & Acquisitions aspects, Stéphane Hautbourg, Benoît Le Bret, Laurent Godfroid and Ségolène Pelsy (Brussels) for competition law issues.