EU probes tax deals Luxembourg granted French firm

Brussels

EUROPEAN Union (EU) antitrust regulators opened a probe on Monday into tax deals granted by Luxembourg to French power utility Engie, stepping up the EU's campaign against tax avoidance by multinationals.

The European Commission said that it had concerns the tax rulings granted by Luxembourg since 2008 appeared to treat the same financial transaction as both debt and equity, leading to double non-taxation of companies in the GDF Suez group, as Engie was formerly known.