LUXEMBOURG, July 16 (Reuters) - Schneider Electric is eligible for some compensation from the European Commission for wrongly blocking the French engineering group's merger with Legrand, the EU's top court said on Thursday.
"The court upholds ... the judgment of the Court of First Instance insofar as it ordered the community to make good the loss represented by the expenses incurred by Schneider in respect of its participation in the merger control procedure ... recommended by the Commission," the Court of Justice said.
The Commission, which regulates mergers in the 27-nation EU, prohibited Schneider's 6.42 billion euro ($9 billion) takeover of Legrand in October 2001 on concerns the acquisition would reduce competition, particularly in France.
It ordered Schneider to divest Legrand by February 2003. Schneider then took its case to the European Union's Court of First Instance, seeking compensation of about 1.7 billion euros for losses it said it had sustained.
The botched takeover cost Schneider some 2 billion euros although it benefited from a 500 million euro tax credit. The Court of First Instance ruled in July 2007 that the EU executive was liable to be sued by Schneider for harm caused by its veto. (Reporting by Michele Sinner; Writing by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Dale Hudson)