CELEX: 32015M7856
Language: en
Date: 2015-12-15 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 15/12/2015 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.7856 - THOMA BRAVO / SILVER LAKE GROUP / SOLARWINDS) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

|[pic]                             |EUROPEAN COMMISSION                                                                                      |

                                        Brussels, 15.12.2015
                                        C(2015) 9597 final

                                        [pic]

|                                                                       |To the notifying parties:                                              |

Dear Sirs,

Subject:    Case M.7856 – THOMA BRAVO / SILVER LAKE GROUP / SOLARWINDS
         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 17 November 2015, the European Commission received notification of  a  proposed  concentration  pursuant  to  Article  4  of  the  Merger
    Regulation by which the undertakings Thoma Bravo, L.L.C.  ("Thoma Bravo", USA) and Silver Lake Group, L.L.C ("Silver  Lake",  USA)  acquire,
    within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the  Merger Regulation, joint control of the undertaking SolarWinds, Inc. ("SolarWinds",  USA),  by
    way of purchase of shares.[3]

 2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

  – for Thoma Bravo: investment management in private equity, with a particular focus on application and infrastructure software, and  provision
    of capital, strategic and operational support to businesses;

  – for Silver Lake: investment management in private equity;

  – for SolarWinds: design, development and supply of enterprise-class information technology  infrastructure  management  software  to  IT  and
    development and operations professionals to manage on-premise, hybrid cloud and public cloud environments.

 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 6 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 388, 21.11.2015, p.17.

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

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                                                                  PUBLIC VERSION

                                                           SIMPLIFIED MERGER PROCEDURE