Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.8685 — Foncière des Régions/Marriott International/Le Méridien Hotel in Nice) — Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance. )
Date: 2017-11-21
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, hotel industry, investment company, merger control, real estate business








C_2017393EN.01001301.xml










21.11.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 393/13





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.8685 — Foncière des Régions/Marriott International/Le Méridien Hotel in Nice)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2017/C 393/06)






1.


On 13 November 2017, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1).
This notification concerns the following undertakings:






—


Foncière des Régions (‘FDR’, France),










—


Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, LLC (‘Starwood’, USA),










—


Le Méridien Hotel in Nice (‘Le Méridien Nice’, France).




FDR acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and Article 3(4) of the Merger Regulation sole control over Lehwood Nice SAS who owns the assets of Le Méridien Nice.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.
By acquiring sole control over Lehwood, FDR will also indirectly acquire joint control over Le Méridien Nice together with Starwood, an affiliate of Marriott International, Inc., which indirectly manages Le Méridien Nice on the basis of a management agreement.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
—   for FDR: French real estate investment group whose commercial assets portfolio mainly comprises offices, as well as residential assets and hotels,
—   for Starwood: wholly owned subsidiary of Marriott. Marriott is a diversified hospitality company which acts as a manager and franchisor of hotels and timeshares properties. As of year-end 2016, Marriott operated and franchised some 6 080 properties worldwide,
—   for Le Méridien Nice: 4-star hotel located in Nice.










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 the 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. The following reference should always be specified:
M.8685 — Foncière des Régions/Marriott International/Le Méridien Hotel in Nice
Observations can be sent to the Commission by email, by fax, or by post. Please use the contact details below:





Email: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu




Fax +32 22964301




Postal 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.