Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11400 – NEOM / DSV / JV) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2023-12-21
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: Saudi Arabia, economic concentration, joint venture, logistics, merger control, provision of services, storage, supply chain, town planning, urban area








C_202301615EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2023/1615


21.12.2023






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11400 – NEOM / DSV / JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2023/1615)


1.   
On 14 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:






—


NEOM Company (‘NEOM’, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), controlled by Public Investment Found (‘PIF’, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia),










—


DSV Solutions Holding A/S (‘DSV Solutions’, Denmark), controlled by DSV A/S (‘DSV’ Denmark).




NEOM and DSV will acquire within the meaning of Articles 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a newly created joint venture (‘JV’).
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares in the JV.


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






—


NEOM is active in the development of the NEOM Zone, which is a new urban area planned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. NEOM’s parent company, PIF, is the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and it is active in asset investments to support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s economic development and to diversify its sources of income, in the interests of future generations,










—


DSV Solutions is active as a contract logistics services provider, offers warehousing and logistics services globally and controls more than 500 logistics facilities. Its parent company, DSV, is a freight forwarding and logistics company active in road/land, air and sea freight forwarding services as well as contract logistics services.






3.   

The business activities of the JV will be the following: logistics and supply chain management for the construction of the NEOM Zone and logistics service provider to third parties within the NEOM Zone.



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.11400 – NEOM / DSV / 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/2023/1615/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)