The European Commission last week cleared Avnet's proposed £676m takeover of Memec.

The Commission notes that Avnet takes a leading position in semiconductor distribution within the European Economic Area (EEA) with the acquisition. But it says that Memec is relatively small and that competitors - particularly Arrow, the biggest chip distie in the EEA - will be "able to restrain any price increasing behaviour".

And while Arrow and Avnet draw even further ahead of the pack, there is little risk of "collusive behaviour [in a} business where a large number of different products are distributed".

Too right. Since when can IT and electronics products disties control prices - upwards or downwards. Greedy manufacturers, over-supply, endemic unofficial broking and piss-poor margins, means that the flight to size is a defensive not an aggressive posture. ®