CELEX: 32015M7551
Language: en
Date: 2015-05-28 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 28/05/2015 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.7551 - ADVENT / HYPO GROUP ALPE ADRIA AG (SOUTHEAST EUROPE BANKING NETWORK)) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

|[pic]                             |EUROPEAN COMMISSION                                                                                      |

                                        Brussels, 28.5.2015
                                        C(2015) 3736 final

                                        [pic]

|To the notifying party:                                                |                                                                       |
|                                                                       |                                                                       |

Dear Sirs,

Subject:    Case M.7551 - ADVENT/ HYPO GROUP ALPE ADRIA AG (SOUTHEAST EUROPE BANKING NETWORK)
         Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004[1] and Article 57 of the Agreement on the
         European Economic Area[2]

 1. On 28.04.2015, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger  Regulation  by
    which the undertaking Advent International Corporation (‘Advent’, United States of America) will  acquire  within  the  meaning  of  Article
    3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control of the undertaking Hypo Group Alpe Adria AG (‘HGAA’, Austria), by way purchase of shares.[3]

 2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

      – Advent: a global  private  equity  investor  in  various  sectors,  including  media,  communications,  financial  services,  information
        technology, retail, industrial and pharmaceuticals;

      – HGAA: a company comprising a network of banks active in (i) banking business  with  retail,  corporate  and  public  customers  and  (ii)
        leasing business in South-Eastern Europe, including in Croatia and Slovenia.

 3. After examination of the notification, the European Commission has concluded that the notified operation  falls  within  the  scope  of  the
    Merger Regulation and of paragraph 5(c) of the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment  of  certain  concentrations  under
    Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004.[4]

 4. For the reasons set out in the Notice on a simplified procedure, the European Commission has decided not to oppose  the  notified  operation
    and to declare it compatible with the internal market and with the EEA Agreement. This decision is adopted in application of Article 6(1)(b)
    of the Merger Regulation and Article 57 of the EEA Agreement.

                                        For the Commission
                                        (Signed)
                                        Alexander ITALIANER
                                        Director-General

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[1]   OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the "Merger Regulation"). With effect from 1 December 2009, the Treaty on the Functioning of the  European  Union
    ("TFEU") has introduced certain changes, such as the replacement of "Community" by "Union" and "common market"  by  "internal  market".  The
    terminology of the TFEU will be used throughout this decision.

[2]   OJ L 1, 3.1.1994, p. 3 ("the EEA Agreement").

[3]   Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union No C 149, 6.5.2015, p. 4.

[4]   OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.

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                                                                  PUBLIC VERSION

                                                           SIMPLIFIED MERGER PROCEDURE