Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11571 – KÜHNE HOLDING / AENOVA) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2024-07-12
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, catering industry, economic concentration, food supplement, holding company, logistics, merger control, pharmaceutical industry, real estate business








C_202404511EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/4511


12.7.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11571 – KÜHNE HOLDING / AENOVA)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/4511)


1.   
On 5 July 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:






—


Kühne Holding AG (‘Kühne Holding’, Switzerland) controlled by Klaus-Michael Kühne,










—


Apollo 8 GmbH (‘Apollo 8’, Germany) the holding company of the Aenova group of companies (‘Aenova’, Germany) and controlled by the manager of a fund advised by BC Partners LLP.




Kühne Holding will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control of the whole of Apollo 8.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


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






—


Kühne Holding is a holding company which is active through Kühne + Nagel International AG in the provision of logistics and freight forwarding services and through Hapag-Lloyd AG in the provision of container shipping services. In addition, it is also active in the hospitality services and real estate sectors,










—


Apollo 8 is the holding company of Aenova, which is internationally active in the provision of contract development and manufacturing services for finished medicinal products for human use and animal health as well as dietary supplements.






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.11571 – KÜHNE HOLDING / AENOVA
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/2024/4511/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)