The European Commission authorised, on 2 July, the acquisition of Bell Micro by Avnet, both of which are American distributors of information technology products. The two firms’ customers are generally resellers and retailers of IT products. The Commission found that the merged entity would continue to face pressure from numerous competitors, in particular international distributors like Arrow, Ingram Micro and Tech Data, as well as smaller distributors. In addition, manufacturers of IT products have partnerships with several distributors and are able to appoint new distributors. Manufacturers also sell directly to resellers and retailers, thereby bypassing wholesalers.