Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.8069 — RCL Holdings Coöperatief/Springwater Capital/Royal Caribbean Holdings de España) — Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2016-07-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, merger control, river tourism








C_2016242EN.01005101.xml










2.7.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 242/51





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.8069 — RCL Holdings Coöperatief/Springwater Capital/Royal Caribbean Holdings de España)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2016/C 242/10)






1.


On 27 June 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 Springwater Capital (‘Springwater’, Switzerland) and RCL Holdings Coöperatief, U.A. (‘RCL Holdings Cooperatief’, Netherlands), a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD (‘RCL’, United States) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Royal Caribbean Holdings de España, S.L. (‘Royal Caribbean Holdings’), currently solely controlled by RCL, by way of purchase of shares.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
—   for Springwater: private equity firm with portfolio activities in a wide number of sectors. Springwater uses the brand ‘Wamos Air’ for the provision of air passenger transport services.
—   for RCL: global cruise vacation company which operates a number of global and regional cruise brands: ‘Royal Caribbean International’, ‘Celebrity Cruises’, ‘Azamara Club Cruises’, ‘TUI Cruises’ and ‘Skysea Cruises’. These brands are operated by RCL in Spain, Portugal, France and other EU countries besides other additional jurisdictions outside the EU, except ‘Skysea Cruises’ which is mainly used in China.
—   for Royal Caribbean Holdings de España: supply of ocean cruise vacations mainly in Spain, France and Portugal under the brand names Pullmantur and Croisières de France.










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 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 M.8069 — RCL Holdings Coöperatief/Springwater Capital/Royal Caribbean Holdings de España, 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.