Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.10597 – SMS / ALTOR FUND MANAGER / KAEFER HOLDING / KAEFER ISOLIERTECHNIK) Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance) 2022/C 104/08
Date: 2022-03-04
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: building industry, building insulation, economic concentration, family business, holding company, investment company, machinery, merger control, provision of services








C_2022104EN.01001101.xml










4.3.2022   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 104/11






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.10597 – SMS / ALTOR FUND MANAGER / KAEFER HOLDING / KAEFER ISOLIERTECHNIK)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2022/C 104/08)

1.   
On 24 February 2022, 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:






—


Altor Fund Manager AB (‘Alter Fund Manager’, Sweden);










—


SMS GmbH (‘SMS’, Germany);










—


Kaefer Holding SE & Co. KG (‘Kaefer Holding’, Germany);










—


Kaefer Isoliertechnik (‘Kaefer’, Germany), currently solely controlled by Kaefer Holding.




Altor Fund Manager, SMS and Kaefer Holding will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Kaefer.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


2.   
The business activities of the above undertakings are the following:






—


Altor Fund Manager is the fund manager of a group of private equity funds, including Altor Fund V which is the Altor fund making the investment in Kaefer;










—


SMS is a family-owned company active in plant and machinery construction for the metallurgical and rolling technology sectors;










—


Kaefer Holding is a family-owned holding company with no other business interests apart from Kaefer and does not generate turnover outside its participation in Kaefer;










—


Kaefer is a provider of insulation services and access solutions (e.g. scaffolding) as well as surface protection and passive fire protection services. Kaefer also provides related services such as electro-mechanical, asbestos removal and refractory services to industrial clients or interior outfitting services to customers active in construction and shipbuilding.






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.10597 - SMS / ALTOR FUND MANAGER / KAEFER HOLDING / KAEFER ISOLIERTECHNIK
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.