Prior notification of a concentration (Case COMP/M.6555 — Posco/MC/MCHC/JV) — Candidate case for simplified procedure  Text with EEA relevance
Date: 2012-05-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: chemical product, economic concentration, energy industry, environmental protection, merger control, metallurgical industry, pharmaceutical product








C_2012144EN.01000701.xml










23.5.2012   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 144/7





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case COMP/M.6555 — Posco/MC/MCHC/JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
2012/C 144/08






1.


On 10 May 2012, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which Posco Chemtech Company Ltd (‘Posco Chemtech’, South Korea), belonging to the Posco group (‘Posco’, South Korea), Mitsubishi Corporation (‘MC’, Japan) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (‘MCC’, Japan), which is controlled by Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation (‘MCHC’, Japan), acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a joint venture (the ‘JV’, South Korea), by way of a purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


for Posco Chemtech: engineering, manufacture and maintenance of industrial furnaces, manufacture of refractories, environmental enhancement products, fertilisers and inorganic additives. Posco is active in steel making, engineering and construction, energy, and IT services,










—


for MC: active worldwide in many industries, including energy, metals, machinery, chemicals, food and general merchandise,










—


for MCC: production and marketing of chemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates and ingredients, and recording media. MCHC is a publicly listed holding company,










—


for the JV: will produce and supply pitch coke, needle coke and other by-products to customers in Korea, China, Japan, India, Taiwan and Russia.














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.6555 — Posco/MC/MCHC/JV, 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’).