Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.12466 – CHARLESBANK / GRAIN / SPECTROTEL / AIRESPRING) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2026-06-15
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: company with share capital, computer network, cyber resilience, economic concentration, information technology industry, merger control








C_202603246EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2026/3246


15.6.2026






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.12466 – CHARLESBANK / GRAIN / SPECTROTEL / AIRESPRING)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2026/3246)


1.   
On 3 June 2026, 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:






—


Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC (‘Charlesbank’, United States),










—


Grain Management, LLC (‘Grain’, United States),










—


Spectrotel Ultimate Holdings, LLC and Spectrotel of California, LLC (together with Spectrotel Ultimate Holdings, LLC, ‘Spectrotel’, United States),










—


AireSpring, Inc. and AireSpring California, LLC (together, ‘AireSpring’, United States).




Charlesbank and Grain will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Spectrotel, currently solely controlled by Grain, and of AireSpring.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


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






—


Charlesbank: mid-market private equity firm focusing on investments in Business & Consumer Services, Healthcare, Industrial, and Technology,










—


Grain: private equity business focused on investments in the communication sector,










—


AireSpring: provider of managed network services, cloud communications, and cybersecurity solutions.






3.   

The business activities of Spectrotel are the following: provision of managed network services and connectivity solutions.



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 concentration 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.12466 – CHARLESBANK / GRAIN / SPECTROTEL / AIRESPRING
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/2026/3246/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)