Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.7186 — APG Strategic Real Estate Pool/Hammerson/SDMG/MBG/Via) — Candidate case for simplified procedure  Text with EEA relevance
Date: 2014-10-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Czechia, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, civil servant, economic concentration, investment company, merger control, real property, supplementary pension








C_2014368EN.01002101.xml










17.10.2014   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 368/21





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.7186 — APG Strategic Real Estate Pool/Hammerson/SDMG/MBG/Via)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
2014/C 368/14






1.


On 10 October 2014, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which APG Strategic Real Estate Pool (‘APG’), an entity controlled by Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP (‘ABP’, the Netherlands) and Hammerson (‘Hammerson’, the United Kingdom), acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Via, a joint venture consisting of Via LP (‘the Partnership’, Jersey), the Partnership’s General Partner (‘the General Partner’, Jersey) and ManCO Limited (‘ManCo’, the United Kingdom), together with the Meyer Bergman Group (‘MGB’, the United Kingdom) and S.D. Malkin Properties, Inc. (‘SDMG’, the United Kingdom).










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
—   for APG: mutual fund focussing on investment in real estate. ABP, the ultimate beneficial owner of APG, is the pension fund for government and education employees in the Netherlands,
—   for Hammerson: commercial real estate development and the renting and operating of its own commercial real estate. Hammerson owns stakes in 11 shopping centres and 22 retail parks in the United Kingdom and 9 shopping centres in France,
—   for SDMG: development and operation of real estate, focusing on retail shopping outlets,
—   for MBG: real estate investment management,
—   for Via: acquisition, owning and managing of real estate assets primarily in the EU. Its current assets comprise one shopping centre in each of the Netherlands (Bataviastad) and the Czech Republic (Fashion Arena).










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 the 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 this 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 e-mail to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number M.7186 — APG Strategic Real Estate Pool/Hammerson/SDMG/MBG/Via, 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.