Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11809 – ROLLS-ROYCE / CEZ HOLDINGS / ROLLS-ROYCE SMR) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2025-01-17
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: economic concentration, electrical energy, electricity supply, energy production, engine, gas supply, merger control, natural gas, retail trade, wholesale trade








C_202500445EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/445


17.1.2025






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11809 – ROLLS-ROYCE / CEZ HOLDINGS / ROLLS-ROYCE SMR)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2025/445)


1.   
On 9 January 2025, 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:






—


Rolls-Royce Plc (‘Rolls-Royce’, United Kingdom),










—


CEZ Holdings B.V. (‘CEZ’, Czech Republic), and










—


Rolls-Royce SMR Limited (‘RR SMR’, United Kingdom).




Rolls-Royce and CEZ will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of RR SMR.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


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






—


Rolls-Royce is part of the Rolls-Royce Group, whose principal activities involve the development and manufacture of engines and power systems for civil aerospace, defence, marine and power generation applications, and










—


CEZ Holdings is part of the CEZ Group, a European energy group, whose principal activities involve the generation, wholesale trading, distribution and retail supply of electricity, the wholesale trading and retail supply of natural gas, and the provision of engineering services in relation to renewable energies.






3.   

The business activities of RR SMR are the research, development, and in due course deployment of small modular nuclear reactor designs.



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.11809 – ROLLS-ROYCE / CEZ HOLDINGS / ROLLS-ROYCE SMR
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/2025/445/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)