Prior notification of a concentration (Case COMP/M.7149 — La Banque Postale/SNCF/SOFIAP) — Candidate case for simplified procedure  Text with EEA relevance
Date: 2014-04-09
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: France, carriage of goods, carriage of passengers, economic concentration, financial services, merger control, rail transport, real estate credit, subsidised housing, transport company








C_2014106EN.01002701.xml










9.4.2014   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 106/27





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case COMP/M.7149 — La Banque Postale/SNCF/SOFIAP)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
2014/C 106/07






1.


On 1 April 2014, the European Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration following a referral pursuant to Article 4(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which SNCF Habitat S.A. (‘SNCF Habitat’, France), belonging to Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer (‘SNCF’, France), and La Banque Postale S.A. (‘La Banque Postale’, France), a member of the La Poste group, acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Société Financière pour l’Accession à la Propriété S.A. (‘SOFIAP’, France) by way of purchase of shares.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


SNCF: active in the national and international long-distance passenger transport sector, local passenger transport, management of railway stations, infrastructure and engineering, and freight transport in France. Its subsidiary SNCF Habitat operates in the social sector with the objective of facilitating access to housing in France,










—


La Banque Postale: active in the retail banking sector, providing a full range of financial services to individuals as well as asset management and credit insurance services in France,










—


SOFIAP: mainly active in the provision of property loans to staff of the SNCF and its subsidiaries under the SOCRIF brand. SOFIAP also provides consumer credit and life and non-life insurance products in France.














3.


On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the 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 Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (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 to it their observations on the proposed concentration.
Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. They can be sent by fax (+32 22964301), by email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number Case COMP/M.7149 — La Banque Postale/SNCF/SOFIAP, to the following address:





European Commission




Directorate-General for Competition




Merger Registry




1049 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË










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

(2)  OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.