THE Competition Authority has approved Bord na Mona's £4.5 million acquisition of the business of the state's largest coal distributor, Consolidated Holdings (CHL). The authority has ruled that, under the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty, the acquisition was not covered by Irish competition law.

The authority also announced a number of other decisions, including the licensing of agreements between oil company Tedcastle McCormick and two of its distributors. The authority held that the agreements, which tied the distributors to buying only Tedcastle Oil, were anti competitive but licensed them provided they were limited to five years.