The European Commission is said to be looking at whether GE (www.gepower.com) misled EU officials examining a deal relating to the purchase of LM Wind Power (a manufacturer of wind-turbine blades) for 1.5 billion euros.

Analysts said that the US company may be in trouble for telling regulators it didn’t have any plans to develop a new giant offshore wind turbine when the company did have such a project on hold.

In addition to any fine, the case could adversely affect GE’s relationship with EU regulators as they review its other merger plans and investigate its maintenance contracts for aircraft engines.

In April, GE filed for EU approval regarding its plan to combine its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes Inc. The EU began to suspect it had been misled soon after it had approved the deal in March. GE and the European Commission in Brussels both declined to comment on the investigation.

One analyst said: “EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager signalled a zero-tolerance approach to companies that give inaccurate information when she fined Facebook Inc 110 million euros for combining WhatsApp data with its other services after having told the merger officials otherwise.

“The social-network group said it had acted in good faith and received a lower fine after co-operating with regulators.”

Ms Vestager said: “It’s no excuse that the closed circle of people working on a merger didn’t know what was going on elsewhere at the company. That simply doesn’t hold up, companies need to be thorough.”