Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.10921 - AGRAVIS RAIFFEISEN / DANISH AGRO / NORDIC SEED GERMANY)
Date: 2024-04-29
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: agricultural machinery, agricultural production, agricultural trade, animal production, crop production, economic concentration, holding company, merger control, plant breeding, retail trade, wholesale trade








C_202402992EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/2992


29.4.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.10921 - AGRAVIS RAIFFEISEN / DANISH AGRO / NORDIC SEED GERMANY)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/2992)


1.   
On 19 April 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:






—


AGRAVIS Pflanzenbau Holding GmbH (‘APH’, Germany), controlled by AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG,










—


Nordic Seed A/S, (‘NOS’, Denmark), controlled by Danish Agro a.m.b.a.,










—


Nordic Seed Germany GmbH (‘NSG’, Germany), currently solely controlled by NOS.




APH and NOS acquire, within the meaning of Article 3(1), point (b) and Article 3(4) of the Merger Regulation, joint control of NSG.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


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






—


APH is an intermediate holding company of the AGRAVIS group with AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG as group parent company. The AGRAVIS group is active in the agricultural trading and service sector. The group consists of the divisions plant cultivation, agricultural commodity trading, livestock farming (including the production of feedstuff), machinery/ agricultural technology, construction services, retail, and wholesale, energy and mobility,










—


NOS is active in seed breeding with a portfolio of varieties of wheat, barley, beans, lupins and peas and in the distribution of third parties’ agricultural crops in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, and in the the Baltic countries. NOS is part of the Danish Agro group with Danish Agro a.m.b.a as group parent company. The Danish Agro group is active the agricultural, feed, machinery and plant based-food and proteins business areas.






3.   

The business activity of the undertaking NSG is the breeding of hybrid rye seeds.



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.10921 - AGRAVIS RAIFFEISEN / DANISH AGRO / NORDIC SEED GERMANY
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/2024/2992/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)