Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11120 – WORLDLINE / CREDIT AGRICOLE / JV)
Date: 2024-02-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: France, banking, economic concentration, financial services, insurance, joint venture, merchant, merger control, payment system, provision of services








C_202401352EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2024/1352


6.2.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11120 – WORLDLINE / CREDIT AGRICOLE / JV)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/1352)


1.   
On 29 January 2024, 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:






—


Crédit Agricole Group (‘Crédit Agricole’, France), ultimately controlled by Crédit Agricole’s 39 regional banks,










—


Worldline S.A. (together with its directly and indirectly controlled subsidiaries, ‘Worldline’, France).




Crédit Agricole and Worldline (jointly the ‘Parties’) will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a full-function joint venture (the ‘JV’).
The concentration is accomplished through the transfer, by the Parties, of part of their activities in the merchant payment services sector in France to the JV.


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






—


Crédit Agricole is one of the main banking groups in France, and is active in asset gathering and insurance, retail banking, specialized financial services, corporate and investment banking services. Although mainly active in Europe (especially in France and Italy), Crédit Agricole is also present in the United Kingdom, North America and Asia-Pacific,










—


Worldline is active in the payment and transactional services industry, namely mobility and e-transaction services, financial services, and merchant services. Worldline is mainly active in the EEA but also in emerging countries including in Asia and Latin America.






3.   

The business activities of the JV will be the following: provision of acquiring and acceptance services to French and foreign merchants in France.



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.



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.11120 – WORLDLINE / CREDIT AGRICOLE / 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’).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/1352/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)