Abu Dhabi won EU approval on Tuesday to acquire the portion of Spanish oil company Cepsa it did not already own for 3.7 billion euros from French oil company Total.
Wholly owned Abu Dhabi government fund IPIC, which held a 47 percent stake in Cepsa prior to the deal, is making the acquisition to extend its refining capacity.
Cepsa has oil and gas production interests in Algeria, Colombia, Egypt and Peru.
The European Commission, the EU competition watchdog, said the deal would not hamper rivals.
“After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the merged entity would face effective competitors and that the transaction would have no effect on the merged entities’ incentives to coordinate their behaviour,” the EU executive said in a statement.
