Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.10521 – ORANGE / PUBLICIS / VOILA) Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance) 2021/C 476/08
Date: 2021-11-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: advertising, cloud computing, economic concentration, joint venture, merger control, telecommunications








C_2021476EN.01001001.xml










26.11.2021   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 476/10






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.10521 – ORANGE / PUBLICIS / VOILA)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2021/C 476/08)

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:






—


Orange Participations S.A. (France), belonging to Orange S.A. (‘Orange’ France),










—


Multi Market Services France Holdings S.A.S. (France), belonging to Publicis Group S.A. (‘Publicis’, France),










—


RAPP 85 S.A.S. (‘Voila’ or ‘Joint venture’, France).




Orange et Publicis acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Voila.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares in a pre-existing company that has never been active, in order to form a joint venture.


2.   
The business activities of the undertakings concerned and Voila are:






—


for Orange: telecommunications operator active in many countries. Orange provides a wide range of electronic communications services, mainly in the field of fixed telephony, the Internet and mobile telephony. Orange also provides technical solutions (network and media) for the organisation of sporting, institutional, professional or media events through its Orange Events business unit.










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for Publicis: operator active in the communications and advertising sector. Publicis also operates as an events agency through its subsidiary PublicisLive France, which is itself 100 % owned by Multi Market Services France Holdings.










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for Voila: future joint venture to market a cloud platform to professionals for the production of hybrid events, accessible in Software as a Service (‘SaaS’) mode.






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 to it any observations they may have on the proposed operation.
Observations must reach the Commission no later than ten days following the date on which this notification is published. The following reference should always be specified:
M.10521 – Orange/Publicis/Voila
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.