Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.10209 — Ceravis/Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft/E-VITA JV) Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance) 2021/C 130/05
Date: 2021-04-14
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: agricultural cooperative, agricultural trade, animal feedingstuffs, economic concentration, merger control, research body, scientific research, seed, technological change








C_2021130EN.01000601.xml










14.4.2021   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 130/6






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.10209 — Ceravis/Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft/E-VITA JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2021/C 130/05)

1.   
On 7 April 2021, 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:






—


Ceravis AG (‘Ceravis’, Germany), belonging to Danish Agro Group (‘Danish Agro’, Denmark),










—


Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. (‘Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’, Germany),










—


E-VITA GmbH (‘E-VITA’, Germany).




Ceravis and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation control of E-VITA.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture.


2.   
The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


for Ceravis: agricultural trade as well as production of seeds and animal feed, primarily for farmers in the northern German states of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Danish Agro is a cooperative farm supply company,










—


for Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft: application-oriented research as well as contract research for government agencies and the private sector in various scientific fields,










—


for E-VITA: marketing, use, distribution and further development of electron technology for chemical-free seed treatment.






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.10209 — Ceravis/Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft/E-VITA 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.