Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11302 – MSC / HGV / HHLA)
Date: 2024-09-05
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, carriage of passengers, economic concentration, harbour installation, holding company, inland waterway transport, logistics, maritime transport, merger control, services of general interest, travel agency








C_202405444EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5444


5.9.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11302 – MSC / HGV / HHLA)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/5444)


1.   
On 29 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:






—


SAS Shipping Agencies Services S.à.r.l. A (‘SAS’, Luxemburg), belonging to the MSC Group,










—


HGV Hamburger Gesellschaft für Vermögens- und Beteiligungsmanagement mbH (‘HGV’, Germany), controlled by Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg (‘FHH’),










—


Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft (‘HHLA’, Germany).




SAS and HGV will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of HHLA.
The concentration is accomplished by way of public bid announced on 13 September 2023 and by way of purchase of shares.


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






—


SAS is an operating holding company of MSC Group, which is a privately owned global business engaged in the transport and logistics sector, primarily active in the ocean liner shipping business. In the EEA, MSC Group is also active in container terminal, and in inland transportation and logistics solutions. The MSC Group also has a passenger division and provides oceanic cruises around the world, passenger maritime transport services in the Mediterranean Sea, tour operator services and travel agency services,










—


HGV is the holding company for the commercial activities of the City of Hamburg. HGV is active in the area of container terminal and terminal logistics services and inland transportation services in the EEA and provides public services such as local public transport, local water supply, local energy supply and local real estate in Germany, mainly in the City of Hamburg.










—


HHLA is a European port and transport logistics company which specialises in container terminal services and transport logistics, particularly in the port of Hamburg but also in the Port of Muuga (Tallinn) and the Port of Trieste.






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.



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.11302 – MSC / HGV / HHLA
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’).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/5444
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)