Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.7649 — Varo/Argos DSE/Vitol/Carlyle/Reggeborgh) (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2015-08-01
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Germany, Switzerland, building industry, economic concentration, energy industry, investment company, merger control, oil industry








C_2015253EN.01001301.xml










1.8.2015   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 253/13





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.7649 — Varo/Argos DSE/Vitol/Carlyle/Reggeborgh)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2015/C 253/12)






1.


On 22 July 2015 the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertakings Vitol Refining Group B.V (‘Vitol’ of the Netherlands), The Carlyle Group (‘Carlyle’ of the United States of America) and Reggeborgh Invest BV (‘Reggeborgh’ of the Netherlands) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Varo Energy BV (‘Varo’, the Netherlands). At the same time Varo enters into a full merger within the meaning of Article 3(1)(a) of the Merger Regulation with Argos Downstream Europe BV (‘Argos DSE’).










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






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Varo is an undertaking active in the downstream oil sector with a geographical focus on Germany and Switzerland. Its activities comprise the refining, storing, distribution of and the trade in mineral oils, biofuels and other mineral oil products. Varo is currently jointly controlled by Vitol and Carlyle on a 50-50 basis :










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Vitol is an undertaking active in the trading of various commodities and financial instruments relating, in particular, to the oil and gas sector. Its trading portfolio includes crude oil, oil products, liquefied petroleum gas (‘LPG’), natural gas, coal, power and carbon emissions.










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Carlyle is a global alternative asset manager, which manages funds that invest globally across four investment disciplines: Corporate Private Equity (buyout and growth capital), Real Assets (real estate, infrastructure and energy and renewable resources), Global Market Strategies (distressed and corporate opportunities, corporate mezzanine, energy mezzanine, structured credit, hedge funds, and middle market debt) and Solutions (private equity fund of funds program and related co-investment and secondary activities)










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Argos is an undertaking active on the markets for trading in and the supply of petroleum products. The activities of Argos and its subsidiaries include (i) the international trading of petroleum products and derivatives; (ii) the storage of petroleum products; (iii) the non-retail sales of petroleum products and LPG; (iv) the retail sales of petroleum products and LPG; and (v) and the bunkering of marine fuels.










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Reggeborgh is an investment company having minority and majority stakes in undertakings in various sectors such as (i) construction services, (ii) the design and provision of access to (glass fibre) telecom networks, (iii) real estate services (including real estate development and real estate management (as an investor)), (iv) the production and sale of aggregates (e.g. sand, gravel and pebble stone), (v) waste incineration, (vi) the lease of a concrete factory and (vii) the operation of onshore wind farms in Germany.














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.










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 M.7649 — Varo/Argos DSE/Vitol/Carlyle/Reggeborgh, 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’).