Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11617 – BLACKSTONE / STONE POINT / ALLIED) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2024-06-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: United States, economic concentration, employer, health insurance, investment, investment company, merger control








C_202404070EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/4070


26.6.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11617 – BLACKSTONE / STONE POINT / ALLIED)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/4070)


1.   
On 18 June 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:






—


Blackstone Inc. (‘Blackstone’, United States),










—


Stone Point Capital LLC (‘Stone Point’, United States).




Blackstone and Stone Point will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control over the whole of Allied Benefit Systems, LLC (‘Allied’, United States), currently solely controlled by Stone Point.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


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






—


Blackstone is a global asset manager which invests on a global basis across a wide range of asset classes including private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds,










—


Stone Point is an investment firm that targets investments in companies in the global financial services industry and related sectors. The firm invests in many alternative asset classes, including private equity through its flagship Trident Funds. Stone Point also manages both liquid and private credit funds and managed accounts.






3.   

The business activities of Allied are the following: it is an independent third-party administrator of group health benefits to self-insured employers across the United States.



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.11617 – BLACKSTONE / STONE POINT / ALLIED
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/2024/4070/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)