THE European Commission has given competition clearance to the takeover of a stake in the Dutch car leasing company Pon Financial Services by Volkswagen's financial arm.

The deal will lead to the joint control of Pon with Volkswagen importer in the Netherlands Pon Holdings BV.

The commission concluded that although the deal would concentrate ownership in the market, there were insufficient competition concerns for it to block the deal or impose conditions.

Car leasing and fleet management specialist Volkswagen Financial Services would also buy shares in Volkswagen-verzekerings Service NV and the deal would lead to joint control of Volkswagen Leasing (VWL), 'currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen'.