CELEX: 31994M0505
Language: en
Date: 1994-12-16 00:00:00
Title: COMMISSION DECISION of 16/12/1994 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No IV/M.505 - Shell / Monteshell) according to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (Only the English text is authentic)

Avis juridique important

|

31994M0505

COMMISSION DECISION of 16/12/1994 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No IV/M.505 - Shell / Monteshell) according to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (Only the English text is authentic)  

Official Journal C 107 , 28/04/1995 P. 0002

 COMMISSION  DECISION of 16/12/1994 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No IV/M.505  - Shell / Monteshell) according to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89  (Only the English text is authentic).  The  paper version of the decision is available through  the sales offices of the Office of Official Publications of  the European Communities PUBLIC VERSION MERGER PROCEDURE ARTICLE 6(1)(b) DECISION Registered with advice of delivery To the notifying parties Dear Sirs, Subject:<ind> Case No.IV/M.505 SHELL/MONTESHELL <ind>  <ind> Notification of 15.11.1994 pursuant to  Council Regulation (EC) No. 4064/89 Dear Sirs, 1<ind> On 15 November 1994 Shell Italia SpA notified to  the Commission its intended acquisition of Monteshell SpA. 2<ind> After examination of the notification, the Commission has  concluded that the notified operation falls within  the scope  of  application of Council Regulation No 4064/89  and does  not raise serious doubts as to its compatibility  with the  common  market  and  with the functioning  of  the  EEA Agreement. <tab> I<ind> THE PARTIES 3<ind>  Shell  Italia is incorporated in  Italy.   It  is  a member  of the Royal Dutch/Shell group, which is engaged  in the  supply  of oil, natural gas, coal and related  products worldwide.   Shell  Italia manufactures and  supplies  at  a wholesale  level  lubricants, liquified  petroleum  gas  and other  petroleum  products, chemicals and related  products. Its activities are limited to Italy. 4<ind>   Monteshell  also  is  an  Italian   company   whose activities  are almost wholly confined to Italy.   It  is  a concentrative  joint  venture jointly created  in  1987  and controlled by Shell Italia and Edison SpA, a member  of  the Montedison  group.   Its principal business  is  the  retail supply  of  automotive  fuels and lubricants,  but  it  also engages  in  the supply of liquified petroleum gas,  bitumen and services connected with hydrocarbon derivatives. <tab> II<ind> THE OPERATION 5<ind>  Shell Italia will acquire from Edison its shares  in Monteshell and thus sole control of Monteshell. 6<ind>  (Deleted business secrets). <ind>  As  part  of  the operation Shell Italia  intends  to integrate  the  activities which it acquires  into  its  own business.   This  step  is  internal  to  the  Shell  Italia corporate group.  It raises no competition issues additional to those considered in this decision. <ind> III<ind> CONCENTRATION OF COMMUNITY DIMENSION 7<ind>  The  notified operation constitutes a  concentration within the meaning of Article 3(1)b of the Regulation. 8<ind>  The undertakings concerned have a combined aggregate worldwide turnover in excess of 5000 million ECU. Each has a Communitywide  turnover in excess of 250  million  ECU,  but only   Monteshell  achieves  more  than  twothirds  of   its aggregate  Communitywide turnover within one  Member  State. The notified operation therefore has a Community dimension. <ind> IV<ind> COMPATIBILITY WITH THE COMMON MARKET <ind> a)<tab> Relevant product markets 9<ind>  Monteshell  is currently active  in  the  supply  of automotive fuels (ie motor gasoline and automotive gas oil), lubricants,  liquified  petroleum gas  and  bitumen  at  the retail level. In relation to these products, Shell Italia is only  active  in  the  supply of  lubricants  and  liquified petroleum  gas  and  this  only at the  wholesale  level  of supply.  In  fact,  28  per cent of  Monteshell's  liquified petroleum  gas requirements are obtained from  Shell  Italia and almost all of its lubricants. 10.<ind>  According to the notifying parties  the  wholesale and  retail markets are separate and as such no addition  of market share ensues from the operation. Having regard to the demand  and  supply  characteristics  of  both  markets,  in particular  the nature of the customers, the  order  volumes and  the  distribution methods necessary  to  compete,  this would appear to be the case. Nevertheless, having regard  to the  market shares held by the parties it is clear that this question  can  be  left  open since there  are  no  affected relevant  product  markets and no competition  issues  arise from the operation. <ind> b)<ind> Geographical reference markets 11.<ind>  The Royal Dutch/Shell group supplies the  relevant products worldwide. Monteshell supplies them only in  Italy. If  the  parties are considered to be engaged  in  the  same product market, the geographical market can be considered to be  at  least  Italy.   This is because  the  conditions  of competition  are  sufficiently homogeneous at  the  national level;   for example Monteshell has a network of 2150 retail outlets  (filling  stations) and a distribution  system  for domestic   supply  of  liquified  petroleum  gas  throughout Italy. <tab> c)<tab> Competitive assessment 12.<ind> The market shares of the parties in Italy  for  the different  relevant product markets indicated above  are  as follows: <tab>  RETAIL LEVEL (MONTESHELL only) <tab> WHOLESALE  LEVEL (SHELL ITALIA only) Automotive fuels:  motor gasoline <tab> [*] <tab> [*]  automotive gasoil <tab> [*] <tab> [*] Lubricants <tab> [*] <tab> [*] Liquefied Petroleum Gas <tab> [*] <tab> [*] Bitumen <tab> [*] <tab> [*] [*] (deleted business secrets all market shares in the range 010%)  <ind>  The  market shares of the parties are not substantial in   competition  terms  and,  moreover,  there  are   other competitors  with  higher or comparable market  shares  e.g. AGIP, ESSO Italiana and Kuwait Petroleum Italia. Lastly, the operation  does  not  give rise to any significant  vertical effects. Consequently no competition isues arise. 13.<ind>   The  operation  accordingly  does  not   in   any circumstances create or strengthen a dominant position as  a result of which competition could be distorted in the common market or a substantial part of it. <ind> V<ind> CONCLUSION 14.<ind>   For   the   foregoing   reasons,   the   proposed concentration  does  not  raise serious  doubts  as  to  its compatibility   with  the  common  market   and   with   the functioning of the EEA Agreement. For  the  above reasons, the Commission has decided  not  to oppose  the  notified operation and to declare it compatible with  the common market and with the functioning of the  EEA Agreement. This decisionis adopted in application of Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation No. 4064/89. <tab> For the Commission