Prior notification of a concentration (Case COMP/M.2518 — GfE/Shell Hydrogen/HQC) — Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2001-07-14
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: chemical industry, economic concentration, energy industry, joint venture, merger control, service industry

14.7.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 199/21

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.2518 (cid:151) GfE/Shell Hydrogen/HQC)

Candidate case for simplified procedure

(2001/C 199/08)

(Text with EEA relevance)

On 2 July 2001 the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to
1.
Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1310/97 (2),
by which the undertaking GfE Gesellschaft f(cid:252)r Elektrometallurgie mbH (GfE), controlled by Metallurg, Inc.
(Metallurg), which is controlled by Safeguard International Fund LP (Safeguard), Shell Hydrogen Projects BV
(Shell Hydrogen), controlled by Shell International BV (Shell), and Hydro-QuØbec CapiTech Inc. (HQC),
controlled by Hydro-QuØbec, acquire, within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Regulation, joint control
of the undertaking Stoco Inc. (Stoco).

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

(cid:151) GfE: production of alloys for hydrogen storage, batteries and,

for the titanium and super alloys

industries, metal and ceramic materials for coatings; vanadium chemicals,

(cid:151) Metallurg: production and distribution of

ferrous and non-ferrous metals, metal-based chemicals,

complementary niche products,

(cid:151) Safeguard: private equity fund,

(cid:151) Shell Hydrogen: holding company with interests in hydrogen-related activities,

(cid:151) Shell: exploration and production of oil and natural gas, oil products, chemicals, gas and power

generation, renewable energy,

(cid:151) HQC: venture capital company,

(cid:151) Hydro-QuØbec: generation, transmission and distribution of energy,

(cid:151) Stoco: development, manufacture and sale of hydrogen storage material and devices based on metal-

hydride technology.

3.
On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified concentration could fall within
the scope of Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89. However, the final decision on this point is reserved. Pursuant
to the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under Council
Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (3), it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the
procedure set out in the notice.

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit

4.
proposed operation.

their possible observations on the

Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication.
Observations can be sent by fax (No (32-2) 296 43 01 or 296 72 44) or by post, under reference
COMP/M.2518 (cid:151) GfE/Shell Hydrogen/HQC, to:

European Commission,
Directorate-General for Competition,
Directorate B (cid:151) Merger Task Force,
Rue Joseph II/Jozef II-straat 70,
B-1000 Brussels.

(1) OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 1; corrigendum: OJ L 257, 21.9.1990, p. 13.
(2) OJ L 180, 9.7.1997, p. 1; corrigendum: OJ L 40, 13.2.1998, p. 17.
(3) OJ C 217, 29.7.2000, p. 32.