Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.9694 — Hermes/Iridium/JV) Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance) 2019/C 414/09
Date: 2019-12-10
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: building industry, economic concentration, investment company, merger control, service concession, toll








C_2019414EN.01003001.xml










10.12.2019   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 414/30






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.9694 — Hermes/Iridium/JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2019/C 414/09)

1.   
On 29 November 2019, 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:






—


Hermes GPE LLP (‘Hermes’, United Kingdom),










—


Iridium Conceciones de Infrastructuras S.A. (‘Iridium’, Spain), belonging to the ACS Group (‘ACS’, Spain),










—


JV (Spain), including:






—


Eix Diagonal Concessionària de la Generalitat de Catalunya (‘Eix Diagonal’, Spain),










—


Autovía del Pirineo S.A. (‘A-21’, Spain),










—


Autovía de los Pinares, S.A. (‘Aupisa’, Spain),










—


Concesionaria Santiago-Brión S.A. (‘Santiago-Brión’, Spain),










—


Reus-Alcover Concesionària de la Generalitat de Catalunya S.A. (‘Reus-Alcover’, Spain),










—


Autovía de la Mancha S.A. (‘Aumancha’, Spain),










—


Inversora de la Autovía de la Mancha S.A. (‘Inversora’, Spain).








Hermes and Iridium acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the whole of the JV, which will be managing the toll motorway concessions (i.e. Eix-Diagonal, A-21, Aupisa, Santiago-Brión, Reus-Alcover, Aumancha and Inversora, together the ‘Toll Motorway Concessions’).
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


2.   
The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


for Hermes: is a leading specialist investor in global private markets specialising in developing bespoke and diversified private equity and infrastructure portfolios on behalf of its clients,










—


for Iridium: part of the Spanish construction group ACS, is active in the development, management and maintenance of concessions,










—


for the JV: active in the management of concessions in the transport sector, and will be managing the Toll Motorway Concessions.






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.9694 — Hermes/Iridium/JV
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.