Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11144 – COLT TECHNOLOGY SERVICES GROUP / LUMEN EMEA BUSINESS) Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance) 2023/C 260/05
Date: 2023-07-24
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, merger control, multinational enterprise, provision of services, telecommunications








C_2023260EN.01000601.xml










24.7.2023   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 260/6






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11144 – COLT TECHNOLOGY SERVICES GROUP / LUMEN EMEA BUSINESS)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2023/C 260/05)

1.   
On 17 July 2023, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 and following a referral pursuant to Article 4(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1).
This notification concerns the following undertakings:






—


Colt Technology Services Group Limited (United Kingdom), controlled by Colt Group Holdings Limited (‘Colt’, United Kingdom), ultimately controlled by Star Horizon Management LLC (United States), and










—


Camelot Landing, LLC (United States), CenturyLink Europe B.V (Netherlands), Lumen Technologies Austria GmbH (Austria), Lumen Technologies Belgium SA (Belgium), Lumen Technologies Denmark ApS (Denmark), Lumen Technologies EMEA Holdings Limited (United Kingdom) and their respective subsidiaries as well as certain US and trans-Atlantic subsea assets of Lumen, together the ‘Target’ or ‘Target Entities’, all belonging to the Lumen group ultimately controlled by Lumen Technologies, Inc. (United States).




Colt will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control of the whole of the Target.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


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






—


Colt is a multinational telecommunications company providing network services for network intensive sectors and voice services that support the transition from traditional to next-generation voice services in Europe, the US, India and Asia.










—


The Target Entities provide telecommunications infrastructure (fibre optic infrastructure and colocation services) and enterprise services across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The Target comprises substantially all of Lumen’s business and assets in EMEA.






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.11144 – COLT TECHNOLOGY SERVICES GROUP / LUMEN EMEA BUSINESS
Observations can be sent to the Commission by email or by post. Please use the contact details below:
Email: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu
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.