Prior notification of a concentration (Case COMP/M.6188 — Vitol/Helios/Shell/Plateau Holding/BV3) — Candidate case for simplified procedure  Text with EEA relevance
Date: 2011-05-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, exchange of information, gas, marketing, merger control, petroleum








C_2011142EN.01004201.xml










13.5.2011   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 142/42





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case COMP/M.6188 — Vitol/Helios/Shell/Plateau Holding/BV3)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
2011/C 142/06






1.


On 4 May 2011, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which Vitol Holding BV (‘Vitol’, the Netherlands), Helios Investments Partners LLP (‘Helios’, England and Wales) and Royal Dutch Shell plc (‘Shell’, England and Wales) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint-control over Plateau Holding BV (‘Plateau’, the Netherlands) and over BV3 (‘BV3’, the Netherlands).










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


for Vitol: independent trader of various commodities (crude oil, oil products, LNG, natural gas, coal, power and carbon emissions) and financial instruments relating in particular to the oil and gas sector,










—


for Helios: African-focused private investments firm active in equity investment,










—


for Shell: worldwide exploration, production and sale of oil and natural gas, the production and sale of oil products and chemicals, power generation and the production of energy from renewable resources,










—


for Plateau: investment holding which holds, following the transaction, Shell's current downstream gas, oil and petroleum products distribution business in 14 African countries,










—


for BV3: a joint-venture set up in the future which holds, following the transaction, Shell's current lubricants production business and wholesale lubricants distribution in seven African countries.














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.6188 — Vitol/Helios/Shell/Plateau Holding/BV3, 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’).