Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.10527 – INSIGHT/VECTOR CAPITAL/IRIS HOLDINGS JV) Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance) 2021/C 472/12
Date: 2021-11-23
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: data processing, economic concentration, investment company, merger control, software








C_2021472EN.01001501.xml










23.11.2021   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 472/15






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.10527 – INSIGHT/VECTOR CAPITAL/IRIS HOLDINGS JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2021/C 472/12)

1.   
On 17 November 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:






—


Insight Venture Management LLC (‘Insight’, USA), wholly-owned by Insight Holdings Group, LLC;










—


Vector CM Holdings (Cayman), L.P. (‘Vector Capital’, USA), controlled by Vector Capital IV International, L.P.




Insight and Vector Capital acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a newly created joint venture, Iris Holdings JV in order to combine the activities of Campaign Monitor Limited (‘CM Group’, UK), currently under sole control of Insight, and Cheetah Holdings Limited (‘Cheetah’, UK), currently under sole control of Vector Capital. CM Group and Cheetah are both active in email and multichannel marketing solutions.
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 Insight: global venture capital and private equity firm specialized in investments in growth equity, buyout, capital for mergers and acquisitions and later stage / middle market / mature recapitalization and carve-outs. Insight primarily invests in the technology sector, focusing on consumer-facing technology, and SaaS based software infrastructure; and










—


for Vector Capital: private equity firm focused on investments in technology and technology-enabled businesses.






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 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.10527 – INSIGHT/VECTOR CAPITAL/IRIS HOLDINGS 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.