Prior notification of a concentration (Case COMP/M.3074 — Acea Distribuzione/BTicino/Siemens Metering/JV) — Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2003-01-22
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, electrical industry, exchange of information, heating, holding company, investment company, lighting, merger control, urban infrastructure

22.1.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 15/9

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.3074 — Acea Distribuzione/BTicino/Siemens Metering/JV)

Candidate case for simplified procedure

(2003/C 15/04)

(Text with EEA relevance)

On 10 January 2003 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 undertakings Acea Distribuzione SpA (Acea Distribuzione, Italy), controlled via the holding
Acea SpA (Acea) by the Comune of Rome; BTicino SpA (BTicino, Italy) controlled by Legrand SA (Legrand,
France) which, in turn, is jointly controlled by the financial holding Wendel Investissement SA (Wendel,
France) and the investment fund Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR, United States of America), and Siemens
Metering SpA (Siemens Metering, Italy) controlled by KKR acquire, within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of
that Regulation, joint control of a newly created company constituting a joint venture by way of purchase
of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

— Acea: production transmission, distribution and trading of electricity, district heating and public

lighting,

— Legrand: production and sale of low voltage electrical equipment,

— Siemens Metering: products and services for the measurement and control of electricity consumption,

— KKR: investment fund, investments in management buyouts for both majority and minority stakes,

— Wendel: financial holding for medium- and long-term investments,

— the newly created joint venture: study, development, manufacture and sale of an advanced system for

the management and control of low voltage electrical distribution networks.

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 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.3074 — Acea Distribuzione/BTicino/Siemens Metering/JV, to:

European Commission,
Directorate-General for Competition,
Directorate B — Merger Task Force,
J-70,
B-1049 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.