Prior notification of a concentration (Case COMP/M.5998 — BDMI/FCPI/Blue Lion Mobile) — Candidate case for simplified procedure  Text with EEA relevance
Date: 2010-10-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: banking, economic concentration, exchange of information, financial institution, merger control, postal and telecommunications services








C_2010290EN.01001701.xml










27.10.2010   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 290/17





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case COMP/M.5998 — BDMI/FCPI/Blue Lion Mobile)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
2010/C 290/08






1.


On 20 October 2010 the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertakings Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, SA (‘BDMI’, Luxembourg), controlled by Bertelsmann AG (‘Bertelsmann’, Germany), and FCPI la Banque Postale Innovation 6, FCPI la Banque Postale Innovation 9 and FCPI la Banque Postale Innovation 10 (together ‘FCPI’, France), indirectly controlled by the La Poste Group (‘La Poste’, France) through XAnge Private Equity SA (‘XAnge’, France), acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the undertaking Blue Lion mobile GmbH (‘Blue Lion’, Germany) by way of purchase of shares.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


Bertelsmann: international media group active in television, radio, publishing and other media and communication services,










—


BDMI: venture-capital investor focused on innovative digital media technologies, products and traders across the globe,










—


La Poste: active worldwide in mail, parcels and express delivery, banking, retail and other services,










—


FCPI: three investment funds,










—


Blue Lion: an IT company focused exclusively on developing and selling software for the social networking and online gaming platform ‘qeep’.














3.


On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the EC Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved. Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under the EC Merger Regulation (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.










4.


The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.
Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (+32 22964301), by email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number COMP/M.5998 — BDMI/FCPI/Blue Lion Mobile, to the following address:





European Commission




Directorate-General for Competition




Merger Registry




J-70




1049 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË










(1)  OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘EC Merger Regulation’).

(2)  OJ C 56, 5.3.2005, p. 32 (‘Notice on a simplified procedure’).