Safran offers remedies to win EU approval for Collins deal

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French engine and aircraft equipment maker Safran has offered remedies in an attempt to secure EU antitrust approval for its $1.8 billion bid for Collins Aerospace's flight controls business, an update on the European Commission website showed on Monday.

The EU competition enforcer, which did not provide details in line with its policy, extended its decision deadline on Safran's bid for the U.S. company to April 4 from March 21.

It is now expected to seek feedback from rivals and customers before deciding whether to accept the concession, demand more or open a four-month long investigation.

Safran in December announced the sale of its electromechanical actuation business in North America, which includes its intellectual property, operations assets, staff, and customer agreements for HSTA systems, to U.S. aircraft parts maker Woodward.

It said the deal was related to the Collins acquisition.

The EU antitrust watchdog had in February asked rivals and customers whether the deal would give Safran more market power, a person familiar with the familiar told Reuters.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)