Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11704 – TRAFIGURA / MEROIL / MEROIL TANK JV) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2024-09-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: Catalonia, commodities market, economic concentration, industrial infrastructure, logistics, maritime transport, merger control, petroleum product, retail selling, storage of hydrocarbons, wholesale trade








C_202405867EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5867


26.9.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11704 – TRAFIGURA / MEROIL / MEROIL TANK JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/5867)


1.   
On 19 September 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:






—


Trafigura Group Pte. Limited (‘Trafigura’, Singapore),










—


Meroil S.A. (‘Meroil’, Spain),










—


Meroil Tank S.L., (‘Meroil Tank’, Spain).




Trafigura and Meroil will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Meroil Tank.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


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






—


Trafigura is an independent commodity trader, specialising in the energy, minerals and metals markets. It is active in two main lines of business, namely physical commodity trading and related logistics including shipping and chartering, and various activities relating to industrial infrastructure,










—


Meroil is engaged in operations relating to the wholesale of petroleum products to independent customers (service stations, distributors of gasoil to retail and business customers), retail commercialisation through its own network of service stations, storage of petroleum products and, on a residual basis, trading activity.






3.   

Meroil Tank is active in the rental of storage capacity for petroleum products at a logistics site in Barcelona to third parties and to its parent company.



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.11704 – TRAFIGURA / MEROIL / MEROIL TANK 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/2024/5867/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)