Final Report of the Hearing Officer – Case M.10658 – Norsk Hydro / Alumetal
Date: 2023-04-21
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: aluminium, bauxite, economic concentration, merger control, metallurgical industry, waste recycling








C_202407524EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/7524


23.12.2024






Final Report of the Hearing Officer (1)

Case M.10658 – Norsk Hydro / Alumetal
(C/2024/7524)


1.   

On 1 September 2022, the Commission received a notification of a proposed transaction, according to which Norsk Hydro ASA (‘Norsk Hydro’) proposed to acquire sole control of Alumetal S.A. (‘Alumetal’, together the ‘Parties’) within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (2) (the ‘Merger Regulation’) by way of a public bid (the ‘Proposed Transaction’).



2.   

On 6 October 2022, the Commission adopted a decision initiating proceedings pursuant to Article 6(1)(c) of the Merger Regulation (the ‘Article 6(1)(c) Decision’). In that decision, the Commission found that the Proposed Transaction raised serious doubts as to its compatibility with the internal market and the EEA Agreement. On 16 November 2022, the Parties submitted written comments on the Article 6(1)(c) Decision.



3.   

On 25 and 27 October 2022, the Commission adopted four decisions pursuant to Article 11(3) of the Merger Regulation, following the Parties’ failure to provide complete information in response to requests for information. This resulted in the suspension of the applicable time limit referred to in Article 10(3) of the Merger Regulation from 25 October 2022 up to and including 3 January 2023.



4.   

On 26 October 2022, following a request by Norsk Hydro pursuant to Article 10(3), second subparagraph, of the Merger Regulation, the period for reviewing the Proposed Transaction was extended by 15 working days, counted from the lifting of the suspension of the applicable time limit on 4 January 2023.



5.   

The results of the in-depth market investigation did not confirm the serious doubts of the previous phase and the draft decision declares the Proposed Transaction compatible with the internal market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement. The Commission did not issue a statement of objections pursuant to Article 13(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 802/2004 (3) and there was no formal oral hearing in accordance with Article 14 of that regulation.



6.   

I have not received any requests from interested third parties for admittance to the proceedings.



7.   

Overall, I consider that the effective exercise of procedural rights has been respected during the present proceedings.




Brussels, 21 April 2023.

Eric GIPPINI FOURNIER
            





(1)  Pursuant to Articles 16 and 17 of Decision 2011/695/EU of the President of the European Commission of 13 October 2011 on the function and terms of reference of the hearing officer in certain competition proceedings (OJ L 275, 20.10.2011, p. 29) (‘Decision 2011/695/EU’).

(2)  Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1).

(3)  Commission Regulation (EC) No 802/2004 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (OJ L 133, 30.4.2004, p.1; corrigendum OJ L 172, 6.5.2004, p. 9).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/7524/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)