EU fines GE $58 million over misleading data in Danish deal

[April 08, 2019]  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators on Monday fined U.S. conglomerate General Electric 52 million euros ($58.4 million) for providing misleading information in its takeover of Danish rotor blade maker LM Wind two years ago.

GE told the European Commission that it was not developing any other turbine apart from its 6 megawatt turbine when it sought EU approval to buy LM Wind. The EU found that this was not true after a third party provided details.

GE subsequently withdrew its request and resubmitted it a month later with more data on future projects. The deal was cleared in March 2017.

Four months later, the EU competition enforcer opened an investigation into GE's first notification and the misleading data provided. Monday's sanction follows that probe.

The Commission handed a 110-million-euro fine to Facebook in 2017 for submitting misleading information during its WhatsApp buy.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Francesco Guarascio)

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