Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.7940 — Netto/Grocery store at Armitage Avenue Little Hulton) — Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2016-01-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, foodstuff, goods and services, merger control, retail trade








C_2016037EN.01000301.xml










30.1.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 37/3





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.7940 — Netto/Grocery store at Armitage Avenue Little Hulton)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2016/C 37/04)






1.


On 22 January 2016, 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 J. Sainsbury plc (‘Sainsbury’s’, United Kingdom) and Dansk Supermarked (‘Dansk’, Denmark) parent companies to Netto Limited, a non-full-function joint venture, acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control from Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc (‘Morrisons’, United Kingdom) of the whole of a retail store located at Armitage Avenue, Worsley (‘the Target Store’, United Kingdom) by way of purchase of assets.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
—   for Sainsbury’s: retail of grocery and non grocery goods. Sainsbury is also active in the retail supply of petrol and pharmacy products, retail banking and insurance services. Sainsbury’s has over 1 300 stores and 161 000 employees in the United Kingdom. Outside the United Kingdom, Sainsbury’s has limited online sales in Ireland (from its Northern Irish stores),
—   for Dansk: retail of grocery and non-grocery goods in Denmark, Germany, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom (through its interest in Netto) under the trade formulas Føtex, Bilka, Netto and Salling. Dansk has no activities in the United Kingdom aside from its joint venture interest in Netto,
—   for Netto: discount retail of grocery and non-grocery goods,
—   for the Target Store: retail store located at Armitage Avenue, Worsley in the United Kingdom.










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.7940 — Netto/Grocery store at Armitage Avenue Little Hulton, 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.