Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11465 – SILVER LAKE / AUSTRALIANSUPER / DIGITALBRIDGE / VANTAGE EMEA) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2024-03-13
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, investment company, merger control, on line data service, property leasing, supplementary pension, technology








C_202402128EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2024/2128


13.3.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11465 – SILVER LAKE / AUSTRALIANSUPER / DIGITALBRIDGE / VANTAGE EMEA)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/2128)


1.   
On 28 February 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:






—


Silver Lake Group, L.L.C. (‘Silver Lake’, US),










—


AustralianSuper (‘AustralianSuper’, Australia) (2),










—


DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (‘DigitalBridge’, US),










—


Vantage Data Centers Europe S.à r.l (‘Vantage EMEA’, Luxembourg), currently jointly controlled by AustralianSuper, DigitalBridge and Public Sector Pension Investment Board .




Silver Lake will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation indirect joint control of Vantage EMEA. Post-Transaction, Vantage EMEA will be jointly controlled by Silver Lake, AustralianSuper and DigitalBridge.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


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






—


Silver Lake is a global technology investment firm. Silver Lake’s investment professionals are located across North America, Europe and Asia and have extensive technology investing and operating expertise.










—


AustralianSuper is an Australian industry public offer superannuation and pension fund established under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Commonwealth).










—


DigitalBridge is a global-scale digital infrastructure investment firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange.










—


Vantage EMEA indirectly owns and operates a portfolio of data centres across Europe, the UK and South Africa.






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 (3) 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.11465 – SILVER LAKE / AUSTRALIANSUPER / DIGITALBRIDGE / VANTAGE EMEA
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)  AustralianSuper Pty Ltd (Australia) acts as a trustee for AustralianSuper.

(3)  
            OJ C 160, 5.5.2023, p. 1.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2128/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)