the european unions executive arm said tuesday that it has approved bouygues sas acquisition of equans conditional on full compliance with commitments the european commission said that bouygues offered to fully divest colas rail belgium in order to address concerns that the deal would have reduced competition in the market according to the eu body as both companies are leading providers of electricalengineering services for railway contact lines in belgium the merged entity would have very large market shares and few competitors in calls for tenders with the divestment colas rail belgium will remain an independent competitor to bouygues and equans in belgium therefore the commission concluded the deal would no longer raise competition concerns the merger is also subject to review by the competition and markets authority in the uk earlier on tuesday the uks regulator said the merger could raise competition concerns as both companies are bidding for highspeed railway infrastructure in england the companies have five working days to submit proposals to address the cmas concerns it said