The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the Dutch-based company Packard Bell by Taiwan-based personal computers manufacturer Acer. Practically this means that Acer now de-facto controls shipments of recently-acquired Gateway as well as Packard Bell and has a strong third place in worldwide PC shipments.

The Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it. The Commission’s examination showed that the proposed merger would entail horizontal overlaps for desktops and laptops, both for professionals and consumers, at the EEA and national levels. However, the market would remain competitive post-merger in all segments of the PC sector with established alternative suppliers such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, Toshiba, Sony and Lenovo, a statement of the European Commission reads.

In Q2 2007 Acer commanded 7.2% of the global PC market, Gateway had approximately 1.57% market share, while Packard Bell owned roughly 2% of the market. The combined company will be able to claim over 10% of the market, which will make it the world’s No. 3 supplier of personal computers. As of Q4 2007, Acer and Gateway commanded 9.5% of the market, according to Gartner market research company, which indicates that going forward the “new Acer” is on-track to command even higher market share.

Acer is a global supplier of personal computers (PCs) and related products, including laptop and desktop personal computers, servers and storage, LCD monitors and high-definition TVs. Packard Bell is a European supplier of desktops, notebooks and digital entertainment solutions.

Terms of the deal between Acer and Packard Bell are not known.