Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.10351 — BDT Capital Partners/Culligan Group) Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance) 2021/C 266/07
Date: 2021-07-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: commercial bank, economic concentration, merger control, water treatment








C_2021266EN.01000801.xml










6.7.2021   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 266/8






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.10351 — BDT Capital Partners/Culligan Group)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2021/C 266/07)

1.   
On 22 June 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:






—


BDT Capital Partners, LLC (‘BDT’, United States),










—


Culligan Group, which is currently solely controlled by Advent International Corporation (‘Advent’, United States) and currently operates via AI Aqua (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l. and its various subsidiaries.




BDT acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control of the whole of Culligan Group.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


2.   
The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


for BDT: BDT is a merchant bank specialised in investments in family-owned and founder-led businesses. BDT currently has 18 controlled portfolio companies active globally,










—


for Culligan Group: Culligan is an international provider of water treatment solutions, engaged in the business of developing and distributing water treatment products for homes, businesses and industrial facilities as well as portable, ‘on-the-go’, solutions. It specialises in the provision of a wide variety of water treatment products, including softening and filtration systems, water coolers, reverse osmosis systems, desalination, membrane solutions and deionisers. In addition, it offers in-home water testing, design and installation services, on-site water analysis and commercial equipment and services.






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.10351 — BDT Capital Partners/Culligan Group
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.