BRUSSELS, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Novo Holdings on Friday

gained unconditional EU antitrust approval for its $16.5 bln

acquisition of U.S. contract drug maker Catalent ( CTLT ) after

EU regulators said they did not see any competition issues.

Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of Danish

drugmaker Novo Nordisk, which makes the blockbuster

weight-loss drug Wegovy, had announced the deal in February.

"The proposed merger would not raise competition concerns on

any of the markets examined in the EEA (European Economic Area)

or on any substantial part of it," the European Commission said

in a statement, confirming a Reuters story.

The EEA refers to the 27 EU countries, Iceland,

Liechtenstein and Norway.

The EU antitrust watchdog said there are sufficient

competing alternatives in the market.

Soaring sales of Wegovy have made Novo Nordisk Europe's most

valuable company by market value.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, additional reporting by Ludwig

Burger in Frankfurt;)