Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11289 – NORWEGIAN / STRAWBERRY / LOYALTYCO JV) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2023-10-27
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: air transport, economic concentration, investment company, merger control, tourism








C_202300571EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2023/571


27.10.2023






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11289 – NORWEGIAN / STRAWBERRY / LOYALTYCO JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2023/571)


1.   
On 20 October 2023, 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:






—


Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA (‘Norwegian’, Norway),










—


Strawberry Holding AS (‘Strawberry’, Norway).




Norwegian and Strawberry will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of of a greenfield joint venture (the ‘LoyaltyCo JV’).
The concentration is accomplished by way of transfer of assets in a newly created company constituting a joint venture.


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






—


Norwegian is an air transport operator founded in 1993 listed on Oslo Stock Exchange with no controlling shareholders. It operates domestic flights in the Nordics and international flights from the Nordics to destinations in Europe, as well as some destinations in North Africa. Norwegian’s organization is divided into three business areas: (i) aircrafts and assets, (ii) flight operations, and (iii) crew.










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Strawberry is an investment company controlled by Petter A. Stordalen. Through its subsidiaries, Strawberry operates the Nordic Choice Hospitality Group that owns 200 hotels split across four hotel chains (Comfort, Clarion, Clarion Collection, and Quality) in the Nordics and the Baltics, as well as a portfolio of other independent hotels. Besides activity in the hotel sector, Strawberry holds investments in other sectors including travel, trade, real estate and securities investments, and adjacent services.






3.   

The business activities of LoyaltyCo JV will the following: The operation of a common multicompany loyalty scheme intended to offer a wide range of benefits to members across the Nordics. The loyalty scheme will be open to join for a variety of companies across a variety of sectors, including companies with and/or without a current loyalty scheme.



4.   

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.



5.   

Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified treatment for certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.



6.   
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.11289 – NORWEGIAN / STRAWBERRY / LOYALTYCO JV
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 160, 5.5.2023, p. 1.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2023/571/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)