Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.12508 – IGA HOLDING / UNIFREE / JV) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2026-07-23
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: Türkiye, airport, duty-free sale, economic concentration, holding company, joint venture, merger control, retail trade








C_202604062EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2026/4062


23.7.2026






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.12508 – IGA HOLDING / UNIFREE / JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2026/4062)


1.   
On 13 July 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:






—


İGA Holding A.Ş. (‘İGA Holding’, Türkiye), controlled by Kalyon Havacılık ve İnşaat A.Ş. (‘Kalyon Havacılık’, Türkiye) and Cengiz İnşaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (‘Cengiz İnşaat’, Türkiye),










—


Unifree Duty Free İşletmeciliği Anonim Şirketi (‘Unifree’, Türkiye) controlled by Gebr. Heinemann SE & Co. KG (‘GH’, Germany) and a group of individuals,










—


A newly created company (‘Target JV’, Türkiye).




IGA Holding and Unifree will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a newly created joint venture.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture.


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






—


İGA Holding conducts holding activities by holding shares of its subsidiaries operating at Istanbul Airport, including the company that acts as the operator of Istanbul Airport,










—


Unifree is, together with its subsidiaries and joint ventures, engaged in duty-free/travel value retail store activities worldwide, but primarily in Türkiye.






3.   

The business activities of the Target JV will be operating travel retail stores located at Istanbul Airport as well as conducting travel retail activities at other airports.



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.12508 – IGA HOLDING / UNIFREE / 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/2026/4062/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)