After a major delay, the European Competition Commission is planning to announce its final decision on the Greek seabass mega-merger of aquaculture companies Nireus and Selonda this week, Reporter reported.

Following an OK from the Brussels, the Greek seabass powerhouse will go online and both Nireus and Selonda will depart from the Athens stock exchange.

Greek private equity fund Diorasis International, parent of Bitsakos Aquaculture, made headway in August with an agreement to acquire farming concessions with a capacity of 10,000 metric tons from Nireus and Selonda for a reported €50 million ($55.4 million).

The US private equity fund Amerra Capital and a UAE-backed subsidiary of investment firm Mubadala reached a deal to acquire and merge the two Greek companies in 2018, but has been held up by European Commission's approval of the concession transaction.

The acquisition of the 10,000 metric tons of farming capacity from Nireus and Selonda is part of the European Commission’s competition authority requirements to allow for the double acquisition by Amerra, which will lead to the creation of a European seabream and seabass powerhouse.

As a result, both Nireus and Selonda have performed poorly in the past year due to their inability to fight against Turkish producers' rock-bottom prices.