(BRUSSELS) - The European Union's top regulator approved on Friday Swiss food giant Nestle's takeover of Gerber, the biggest baby food maker in the United States.

The regulator, the European Commission, said it a statement that it had "concluded that the operation would not significantly impede effective competition" in Europe.

Nestle announced in April that it had agreed to buy Gerber for 5.5 billion dollars (4.1 billion euros) in a deal that extends its global empire.

It said the all-cash deal to buy Gerber from the Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis would secure it the number one position in the United States, the world's largest baby food market, where Gerber has a 79-percent market share.

The Swiss giant is widely regarded as the world number one for baby foods, but Gerber's dominance in the United States had stifled Nestle's progress in the lucrative US market.

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