Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.7404 — Aviva/BZ WBK/JVs) — Candidate case for simplified procedure  Text with EEA relevance
Date: 2014-10-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Europe, Latin America, Poland, United Kingdom, United States, bank, economic concentration, insurance company, merger control, stock-exchange listing








C_2014381EN.01001501.xml










28.10.2014   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 381/15





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.7404 — Aviva/BZ WBK/JVs)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
2014/C 381/10






1.


On 17 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 Aviva International Insurance Limited, an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of Aviva plc (‘Aviva’, United Kingdom), and Bank Zachodni WBK SA (‘BZ WBK’, Poland), ultimately controlled by Banco Santander SA and therefore constituting part of the Santander group (‘Santander’, Spain), acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of BZ WBK-Aviva Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń na Życie SA and BZ WBK-Aviva Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń Ogólnych SA (the ‘JVs’, Poland), by way of purchase of shares.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


Aviva is the ultimate parent company of an international insurance group that is also active in long term savings and fund management. Aviva is a public listed company in the UK and is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange,










—


BZ WBK is a bank which is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange with headquarters in Wrocław,










—


Santander is the parent company of an international group of banking and financial companies operating in Europe, the United States and Latin America. It is active in retail banking, asset management, corporate and investment banking, treasury and insurance,










—


The JVs were established jointly by BZ WBK and Aviva, and they operate in the Polish market for the underwriting of life and non-life insurance.














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 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 e-mail to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number M.7404 — Aviva/BZ WBK/JVs, 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.