Marsh & McLennan’s takeover of JLT has won approval from the European Commission after it jettisoned an aerospace practice, paving the way for completion of the deal on Monday.

All regulatory and competition authority approvals have now been satisfied, Marsh says. The UK High Court is also expected to approve the deal in a hearing scheduled for Friday.

The European Commission review had flagged that the takeover would significantly reduce competition in providing broking services to aircraft operators and aerospace manufacturing, leading to a divestment to address the concerns.

“Barriers to entry are high on both markets, as customers require suppliers to have a proven track record, access to scarce expertise, and global reach in order to compete effectively,” it said.

“The commission was concerned that the transaction as notified would have negatively affected competition and could have led to higher prices, less choice and lower quality of services in these markets.”

As a result, JLT’s global aerospace broking business was this month sold to Gallagher for around £190 million ($351 million). The deal also included standalone division Hayward Aviation.

The European Commission says it examined insurance broking for other specialty markets as well, but did not identify any competition concerns.

Marsh & McLennan President and CEO Dan Glaser announced the $US5.6 billion ($7.8 billion) acquisition last September.

JLT Group CEO Dominic Burke will be Marsh & McLennan Vice Chairman and also chair a new Marsh-JLT Specialty business, to be launched after the broking giants merge.

In regional changes, JLT Australia and New Zealand CEO Nick Harris becomes Marsh Pacific CEO, while Scott Leney, who currently holds that role, becomes Head of Australia.