Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.7656 — CD&R Group/Scimitar Topco Limited) — Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2015-06-16
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, fuel, holding company, investment company, merger control








C_2015199EN.01000501.xml










16.6.2015   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 199/5





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.7656 — CD&R Group/Scimitar Topco Limited)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2015/C 199/05)






1.


On 9 June 2015, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertaking Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (‘CD&R Group’, United States) via its investment vehicle Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Fund IX, L.P. (‘CD&R Fund IX’, Cayman Islands) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation sole control of Scimitar Topco Limited (‘Scimitar’, United Kingdom), the holding company of the Motor Fuel Group (‘MFG’, United Kingdom), by way of purchase of shares.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


CD&R Group is a private equity investment group based in the United States which originates, structures and frequently acts as a lead equity investor in management buyouts, strategic minority equity investments and other strategic investments. It makes such investments through a number of different funds formed to make investments in companies active in a variety of economic sectors.










—


Scimitar is the holding company of the Motor Fuel Group, an independent petrol and convenience retailer in the United Kingdom. Scimitar’s group companies are active in the retail supply of road fuels in the United Kingdom and, ancillary to this, the supply of groceries from these sites. It is also involved, to a limited extent, in the wholesale supply of motor fuels in the United Kingdom to a number of independently owned petrol station forecourts.














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 M.7656 — CD&R Group/Scimitar Topco Limited, 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.