The European Commission is to hold a two-day hearing next week on the proposed merger between Guinness and Grand Metropolitan as part of its inquiry into the £24 billion pound deal.

The Commission sent the companies a so-called "statement of objections" on August 21st in which it detailed its difficulties with the alliance, a Commission spokesman said.

He said the hearing, which is expected to be attended by the main rivals to the two beverage groups, would be held on September 4th and 5th but declined to comment further.

The merger has been opposed by rebel shareholder Bernard Arnault who favours a three-way merger to include his French luxury goods and drinks company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

The deadline for the Commission to decide whether to approve the merger is October 27th.

The Commission started an indepth investigation into the deal on June 20th, saying it was concerned about the companies' strong position in the spirits market and particularly for whisky.

Mergers that go into so-called second-stage investigations usually require changes to get European Union regulatory approval. Both the statement of objections and the hearing are routine steps in detailed probes.