Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.9744 – Mastercard/Nets) (Text with EEA relevance) 2020/C 219/09
Date: 2020-07-03
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, financial services, merger control, payment








C_2020219EN.01001501.xml










3.7.2020   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 219/15






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.9744 – Mastercard/Nets)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2020/C 219/09)

1.   
On 26 June 2020, 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:






—


Mastercard Incorporated (USA) (‘Mastercard’),










—


Nets A/S (Denmark) (‘Nets’).




Mastercard acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of parts of Nets’ corporate services business (the ‘Target’).
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.
The concentration has been referred to the Commission by the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority pursuant to Article 22 (3) of the Merger Regulation. The referral was subsequently joined by Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the UK.


2.   
The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


for Mastercard: it is a technology company operating in the global payments industry. It owns and operates branded four-party payment card schemes and provides switching services for card transactions. Mastercard is also engaged in alternative payment solutions, through Vocalink Holdings Limited, which is a company focusing on providing core infrastructure services to payment schemes. Mastercard also provides account-to-account core infrastructure services with schemes in Europe and outside of Europe;










—


for the Target: it is a business unit within Nets, operating as a global payments business providing payment services and technology solutions, mainly in the Nordic region, as well as within the Single Euro Payments Area. Its activities focus on (i) account-to-account core infrastructure services for real-time and batch clearing and (ii) a range of account-to-account invoice payment services and ancillary services in Denmark and Norway.






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.



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.9744 – Mastercard/Nets
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’).