Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11362 – I SQUARED CAPITAL / ARRIVA) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2023-12-12
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: bus, carriage of passengers, economic concentration, investment company, merger control, provision of services, rail transport, transport company








C_202301508EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2023/1508


12.12.2023






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11362 – I SQUARED CAPITAL / ARRIVA)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2023/1508)


1.   
On 5 December 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:






—


I Squared Capital Advisors (US) LLC (‘I Squared Capital’, US), controlled by ISQ Holding LLC, US;










—


Arriva plc (‘Arriva’, UK), controlled by Deutsche Bahn AG.




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


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






—


I Squared Capital is a private equity firm focusing on sectors such as energy, utilities, telecom, healthcare and transport in North America, Europe and other economies around the world;










—


Arriva is a public transport company providing passenger transportation services, in particular train and bus services. Arriva’s operations in transportation are structured in four business units: UK Trains, UK Bus (London and regional), the Netherlands and Mainland Europe (Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Poland).






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.11362 – I SQUARED CAPITAL / ARRIVA
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/2023/1508/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)