CELEX: 32020M9917
Language: en
Date: 2020-10-14 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 14/10/2020 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.9917 - LIBERTY / ASCOVAL / HAYANGE) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                Brussels, 14.10.2020
                                                                C(2020) 7159 final
                                                                                 PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                To the notifying party
Subject:        Case M.9917 — Liberty/Ascoval/Hayange
                Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation
                                       1
                (EC) No 139/2004 and Article 57 of the Agreement on the European
                                    2
                Economic Area
Dear Sir or Madam,
1.      On 22 September 2020, the European Commission received a notification of a
        proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which
        Liberty House Group PTE Ltd. (‘Liberty’, Singapore) intends to acquire within the
        meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of the whole of France
        Rail Industry (‘FRI’, France, ultimately controlled by Greybull) and Ascoval Saint-
        Saulve (‘Ascoval’, France, ultimately controlled by Greybull).3 The concentration is
        accomplished by way of purchase of shares.
2.      The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
             for Liberty: Liberty belongs to Liberty Group, an international metals and
              industrial group, specialising in commodities, metals recycling, manufacture of
              steel, aluminium and engineering products,
             for FRI: FRI operates the Hayange steel factory located in France. Hayange
              produces rails, a type of finished steel products,
             for Ascoval: Ascoval is a plant located in France which produces semi-finished
              steel products.
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 321, 29.9.2020, p. 41.
Commission européenne, DG COMP MERGER REGISTRY, 1049 Bruxelles, BELGIQUE
Europese Commissie, DG COMP MERGER REGISTRY, 1049 Brussel, BELGIË
Tel: +32 229-91111. Fax: +32 229-64301. E-mail: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu.
 ---pagebreak--- 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)
                                                  Olivier GUERSENT
                                                  Director-General
4  OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.
                                              2