CELEX: 32016M8215
Language: en
Date: 2016-10-21 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 21/10/2016 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.8215 - APOLLO MANAGEMENT / RACKSPACE HOSTING) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

|[pic]                             |EUROPEAN COMMISSION                                                                                      |

                                        Brussels, 21.10.2016
                                        C(2016) 6872 final

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                                        To the notifying party:
Dear Sirs,

Subject:    Case M.8215 - APOLLO MANAGEMENT / RACKSPACE HOSTING
         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 29 September 2016, the European Commission received notification of a  proposed  concentration  pursuant  to  Article  4  of  the  Merger
    Regulation by which investment funds managed by affiliates of the undertaking Apollo Management, L.P. ("Apollo", United States  of  America)
    ultimately controlled by Apollo Global Management LLC acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of  the
    whole of the undertaking Rackspace Hosting, Inc. ("Rackspace", United States of America) by way of purchase of shares.[3]

 2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

  – for Apollo: affiliates of Apollo invest in companies and debt issued by companies  involved  in  various  businesses  throughout  the  world
    including, inter alia, companies in the chemical, cruise line, IT consulting, security, financial and glass packaging businesses.

  – for Rackspace: a US publicly traded company, whose principal activity is the provision of Infrastructure as  a  Service  (IaaS),  and  which
    also offers managed cloud services.

 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)

                                        Johannes LAITENBERGER
                                        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 367, 06.10.2016, p. 3.
[4]   OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.

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                                                                  PUBLIC VERSION

                                                           SIMPLIFIED MERGER PROCEDURE