Prior notification of a concentration (Case COMP/M.2577 — GE Capital/Heller Financial) (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2001-10-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, financial institution, merger control

C 278/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

2.10.2001

Final report of the Hearing Officer in case COMP/36.693 (cid:151) Volkswagen (1)

(pursuant to Article 15 of Commission Decision 2001/462/EC, ECSC of 23 May 2001 on the terms
of reference of hearing officers in certain competition procedures (OJ L 162, 19.6.2001))

(2001/C 278/02)

The draft Decision does not give rise to any particular observation. There were no procedural problems.
The interested party did not request an oral hearing. The draft Decision contains no objections in respect
of which Volkswagen has not been afforded the opportunity of making known its views.

Done at Brussels, 14 June 2001.

(1) OJ L 254, 22.9.2001.

Helmuth SCHR(cid:214)TER

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.2577 (cid:151) GE Capital/Heller Financial)

(2001/C 278/03)

(Text with EEA relevance)

1.
On 21 September 2001 the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant
to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
1310/97 (2), by which General Electric Capital Corporation (GE Capital),
through its wholly owned
subsidiary Hawk Acquisition Corporation (US); belonging to The General Electric Company (GE)
aquires, within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Regulation, control of the whole of the US-based
company Heller Financial Inc. (Heller) by way of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

(cid:151) GE Capital: is the holding company for the global diversified financial services division of GE. GE
Capital’s operations consist of 24 businesses in the areas of equipment management, consumer services,
mid-market financing, specialised financing and speciality insurance,

(cid:151) GE: the ultimate parent company of GE Capital, is a diversified manufacturing technology and service
financial services,
industrial systems, medical systems,

company. GE is active in various fields including aircraft engines, appliances,
information services, power generation equipment,
plastics, broadcasting and transportation equipment,

lighting,

(cid:151) Heller: financing solutions including working capital loans, equipment financing and leasing, cash-flow

financing, collateral-based financing and small business lending.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified concentration could fall within

3.
the scope of Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.

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.2577 (cid:151) GE Capital/Heller Financial, 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.