Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11401 – ALCENTRA / PEOPLE & BABY) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2023-12-14
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: child care, economic concentration, financial services, investment company, merger control, property leasing








C_202301549EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2023/1549


14.12.2023






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11401 – ALCENTRA / PEOPLE & BABY)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2023/1549)


1.   
On 7 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:






—


Alcentra Limited (‘Alcentra’, UK), controlled by Franklin Resources Inc. (‘Franklin Templeton’, USA),










—


Mr. Cristophe Durieux (the ‘Founder’, France),










—


Groupe People and Baby SAS (‘People & Baby’, France), controlled by the Founder.




Alcentra and the Founder will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of People & Baby.
The concentration is accomplished by way of contract or any other means.


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






—


Alcentra is a global asset management firm focused on sub-investment grade corporate credit and is one of the largest European alternative credit managers. Alcentra is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton, a global investment management organization,










—


the Founder is a French national that founded People & Baby. The Founder retains control of another business in France, whose purpose is to rent physical premises to People & Baby.






3.   
The business activities of People & Baby are the following:






—


People & Baby is a family-run daycare centre company, operating 630 daycare centres located in France and 190 centres worldwide.






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.
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.


5.   
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.11401 – ALCENTRA / PEOPLE & BABY
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/2023/1549/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)