The European Union's competition watchdog has approved a takeover bid for British airports owner BAA by a consortium led by Spanish construction group Ferrovial.
The permission allows Ferrovial to go ahead with the unsolicited £8.75bn bid (€12.81 billion).
The European Commission said the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition.
BAA has been fighting the approach from Ferrovial and has pledged to return £750m (€1.098 billion) to shareholders on condition any bid collapses.
Last month, the company said Ferrovial's 810p a share takeover offer, which values BAA at £8.75bn, "could not be taken seriously".
The construction company faces competition from Goldman Sachs for BAA, although a "friendly" approach from the US investment bank has also been rejected as too low by the BAA board.
Its highly conditional approach valued BAA at around £9.4bn (€13.7 billion), but analysts believe a winning bidder would have to pay at least £9.75bn (€14.28 billion).
The Spanish consortium also includes a Canadian fund manager and the private equity investment arm of the Singapore government.
Ferrovial sparked takeover speculation in February when it shocked the market by revealing its intention to mount an offer for the FTSE 100 Index company.
PA