Commission européenne, DG COMP MERGER REGISTRY, 1049 Bruxelles, BELGIQUE  
Europese Commissie, DG COMP MERGER REGISTRY, 1049 Brussel,   BELGIË  
 
Tel: +32 229 -91111. Fax: +32 229 -64301. E -mail: COMP -MERGER -REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu . 
  EUROPEAN COMMISSION  
Brussels,  2.9.2019   
C(2019 ) 6411  final 
 PUBLIC VERSION  
To the notifying party  
Subject : Case M. 9486  – GBL  / WEBHELP  
Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation 
(EC) No 139/20041 and Article 57 of the Agreement on the European 
Economic Area2  
Dear Sir or Madam,  
1. On 7 August 2019 , the European Commission received notification of a proposed 
concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger  Regulation by which Groupe 
Bruxelles Lambert  (“GBL”, Belgium) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) 
of the Merger Regulation sole control of the whole of Webhelp SAS and its 
subsidiaries (“Webhelp”, France) .3 
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.  
2. The business activ ities of the undertakings concerned are:  
- for GBL:  an investment holding company which invests in global companies 
operating in various sectors and mainly in Europe. The only subsidiary in which 
GBL has a controlling interest is Imerys SA (“Imerys”), a French multinational 
specialised in the production and processing of industrial minerals;    
- for Webhelp: Information T echnology (“IT”) service provider active primarily in 
the provision of business process outsourcing services. It offers a range of core 
services such as technical assistance for customer loyalty services and claims 
management, multichannel client data collections, digital and marketing services, 
payment services and enterprise solutions. Webhelp is mainly active in Europe 
but has a worldwi de presence.  
                                                 
1 OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 ( the ‘Merger Regulation ’). With effect from 1 December 2009,  the Treaty on 
the Functioning of the European Union ( ‘TFEU ’) has introduced certain changes, such as the 
replacement of ‘Community ’ by ‘Union ’ and ‘common market ’ by ‘internal market ’. The terminology 
of the TFEU will be used throughout this decision.  
2  OJ L 1, 3.1.1994, p . 3 (the ‘EEA Agreement ’). 
3  Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union No C 273, 14.08.2019 , p. 4. 

2 3. After examination of the notification, the European Commission has concluded that 
the notified operation falls within the scope of the Merger  Regulation  and of 
paragraph 5 (b) of the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of 
certain concentrations under Council  Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 .4 
4. For the reasons set out in the Notice on a simplified procedure, the European 
Commission has decided not to oppose the notified operation and to declare it 
compatible with the internal mark et and with the EEA Agreement. This decision is 
adopted in application of Article 6(1)(b) of the Merger  Regulation  and Article 57 of 
the EEA Agreement . 
For the Commission  
 
 
(Signed)  
Cecilio MADERO VILLAREJO  
Acting Director -General  
                                                 
4  OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5 .