Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11291 – TAIYO NIPPON SANSO / ASTOMOS ENERGY / ASTOMOS RETAILING) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2023-11-23
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: chemical industry, economic concentration, fuel, gas industry, merger control, mining industry








C_202301196EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2023/1196


23.11.2023






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11291 – TAIYO NIPPON SANSO / ASTOMOS ENERGY / ASTOMOS RETAILING)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2023/1196)


1.   
On 8 November 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:






—


Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd (‘Idemitsu Kosan’, Japan),










—


Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation (‘Mitsubishi Chemical Group’, Japan),










—


Astomos Retailing Corporation (‘AR’, Japan), controlled by Astomos Energy Corporation (‘AE’, Japan), and ultimately controlled by Idemitsu Kosan; and










—


Taiyo Nissan Energy Corporation (‘TNE’, Japan), ultimately controlled by Mitsubishi Chemical Group.




Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsubishi Chemical Group will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and Article 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of both AR and TNE following the merger of TNE and AR.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


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






—


Idemitsu Kosan owns and operates oil platforms and oil refineries, and is active in chemicals, high functional materials, electricity and renewable energy, and oil, gas and coal exploration,










—


Mitsubishi Chemical Group is active in chemicals, health care and industrial materials including industrial gases,










—


AR is active in the sale of LPG, of LPG equipment and LPG facilities, and










—


TNE is active in the sale of LPG.






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 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.


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.11291 – TAIYO NIPPON SANSO / ASTOMOS ENRGY / ASTOMOS RETAILING
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/2023/1196/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)