EU antitrust regulators pause probe into MMG's Anglo American deal

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -EU antitrust regulators have paused their investigation into Hong Kong-listed mining and metals company MMG's plan to buy Anglo American's Brazilian nickel business, an update on the European Commission website showed on Tuesday.

The EU executive, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, stopped the clock on November 24.

"The 'clock' in merger investigations can be suspended if the parties fail to provide, in a timely fashion, an important piece of information that the Commission has requested from them (for its competition assessment) within a prescribed deadline," a Commission spokesperson said.

"Once the missing information is supplied by the parties, the clock is restarted and the legal deadline for the Commission's decision is then adjusted accordingly."

The Commission warned this month that the deal, which comes against a backdrop of global concern over the supply of key minerals and China's dominance in that area, could enable MMG to divert ferronickel from Europe, hurting European steel producers.

MMG's biggest shareholder is state-owned Chinese company China Minmetals Corporation (CMC).

(Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by Jan Harvey and David Goodman)