Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11629 – Geogas / NYK / DIF / Marigold / FLS JV) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2024-08-28
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, economic concentration, energy transport, holding company, international trade, international transport, investment company, logistics, maritime transport, merger control








C_202405288EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5288


28.8.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11629 – Geogas / NYK / DIF / Marigold / FLS JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/5288)


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:






—


Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (‘NYK’, Japan),










—


Geogas Maritime SAS belonging to the Geogas Group (‘Geogas’, France),










—


DIF Management B.V. (‘DIF’, the Netherlands) controlled by CVC Capital Partners (‘CVC’, Luxembourg),










—


Marigold ACP SARL (‘Marigold’, Luxembourg) controlled by Access Capital Partners Group S.A. (‘Access Capital Partners’, France),










—


France LNG Shipping SAS (‘FLS JV’, France).




NYK, Geogas, DIF and Marigold acquire within the meaning of Articles 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the whole of FLS JV.
The concentration is accomplished by way of contract or any other means.


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






—


NYK is a listed Japanese shipping services and logistics provider that specializes in international marine transportation,










—


Geogas specializes in international trading and transportation of liquified petroleum gas,










—


DIF is an infrastructure equity fund manager developing diversified portfolios across projects in Europe, the Americas and Australasia. DIF is controlled by CVC, a private equity and investment advisory firm; and,










—


Marigold is an investment holding company coordinating the activities of all the entities in which it holds direct or indirect interest. It is controlled by Access Capital Partners, an independent private assets manager.






3.   

FLS JV owns, finances and commercially manages LNG vessels based on long-term time charter arrangements.



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.11629 – Geogas / NYK / DIF / Marigold / FLS JV
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/2024/5288/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)