Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11368 – SONAE / MUSTI GROUP) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2024-01-04
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: consumer goods, durable goods, economic concentration, information technology, merger control, pet food, property market, retail trade








C_202400592EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2024/592


4.1.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11368 – SONAE / MUSTI GROUP)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/592)


1.   
On 15 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:






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Sonae SGPS, S.A, solely controlled by Efanor Investimentos, SGPS, SE (‘SONAE’, Portugal),










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Musti Group Oyj, (‘MUSTI GROUP’, Finland).




SONAE will acquire sole control, within the meaning of Article 3(1) (b) of the Merger Regulation, over MUSTI GROUP.
The concentration is accomplished by way of a public bid announced on 29 November 2023.


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






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SONAE is active mainly in food and non-food retail (including pet foods and pet accessories), also in real estate, consumer finance and insurance, electronic communications, and IT. Sonae is active in specialised retail of pet products and pet-related services under its ZU brand in Portugal, and also sells pet-related goods in its daily goods and consumer electronics specialist stores,










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MUSTI GROUP is active in the retail sales of pet products (food and non-food) and pet-related services as well as manufacturing of pet food in Finland, Sweden, and Norway. It is a public limited company incorporated under the laws of Finland with its shares admitted to trading on the official list of Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd.






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.11368 – SONAE / MUSTI GROUP
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/2024/592/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)