Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.7679 — EVO Payments International/Raiffeisen Bank Polska/Raiffeisenbank/JVs) — Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2015-08-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: banking, economic concentration, electronic money, financial services, merger control








C_2015265EN.01000601.xml










13.8.2015   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 265/6





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.7679 — EVO Payments International/Raiffeisen Bank Polska/Raiffeisenbank/JVs)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2015/C 265/05)






1.


On 4 August 2015, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which (i) the undertaking Centrum Elektronicznych Usług Płatniczych ‘eService’ Sp. z o.o., Poland (‘eService’, Poland), jointly controlled by the EVO Payments International group of companies (‘EVO’, USA) and the Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski group of companies (‘PKO’, Poland), and (ii) the undertakings Raiffeisen Bank Polska SA (‘RBPL’, Poland) and Raiffeisen a.s. (‘RBCZ’, Czech Republic), both part of the Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich Aktiengesellschaft group of companies (Austria) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a newly created joint venture company in Poland and a newly created joint venture company in the Czech Republic (‘JVs’, Poland and Czech Republic) by way of purchase of shares and contract of management. The merchant acquiring businesses of RBPL and RBCZ will be transferred to the JVs.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
—   eService: Provision of acquiring processing services for card payments made at POS terminals or through the internet in Poland
—   EVO: electronic transaction payment processing and related services in the USA, Canada and the EEA
—   RBPL: Banking and financial services in Poland
—   RBCZ: Banking and financial services in the Czech Republic
—   Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich Aktiengesellschaft: Banking and financial services in the EEA
The JVS will provide merchant acquiring and acquiring processing services in Poland and in the Czech Republic.










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 email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number M.7679 — EVO Payments International/Raiffeisen Bank Polska/Raiffeisenbank/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.