Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11655 – WENDEL / PEP / GLOBEDUCATE) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2024-08-28
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, education, higher education, investment company, language skills, language teaching, merger control, pre-school education, primary education, secondary education








C_202405289EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5289


28.8.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11655 – WENDEL / PEP / GLOBEDUCATE)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/5289)


1.   
On 21 August 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:






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Expansion 17 S.C.A., F. I. A. R. and Global Performance 17 S.C.A., F. I. A. R. (Luxembourg), controlled by Wendel SE, (France)










—


PUK VII S.à r.l. (Luxembourg), controlled by Providence Equity Partners, (USA)










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PN VII Topco S.à r.l. (Globeducate) (Luxembourg), controlled by Providence Equity Partners, (USA).




Wendel SE and Providence Equity Partners will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and Article 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the whole of PN VII Topco S.à r.l. (Globeducate).
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


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






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Wendel SE is an investment firm and has portfolio companies active in several sectors. These include IK Partners, which, in turn, has two portfolio companies, Domia Group (Acadomia) and Skill & You (S&Y), which are active in education in France and Spain respectively.










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Providence Equity Partners is a global asset manager and specialist private equity investment firm that focuses on media, communications, education and technology investments, across North America and Europe.










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PN VII Topco S.à r.l. (Globeducate) provides K-12 education services (education from kindergarten to 12th grade) and operates bilingual and international schools in Andorra, Canada, Cyprus, France, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.






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.11655 – WENDEL / PEP / GLOBEDUCATE
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/2024/5289/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)