EU antitrust regulators to rule on $69 bln Aramco, SABIC deal by Feb. 27

EU antitrust regulators will decide by Feb. 27 whether to clear state energy firm Saudi Aramco's $69.1 billion acquisition of world number four petrochemicals group Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) , a European Commission filing showed. Aramco, the world's largest oil producer, announced the deal to buy a 70% stake in SABIC from the Public Investment Fund in March last year. It hopes the move will boost its downstream growth.

The Commission can clear the deal with or without conditions during this preliminary review, or it can open a full-scale investigation of up to five months if it has serious concerns that it could hurt competition. Indian and a number of other countries' competition watchdogs have approved the deal without demanding concessions.