CELEX: 32021M10342
Language: en
Date: 2021-07-15 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 15/07/2021 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.10342 - LEONARD GREEN & PARTNERS / GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP / AEA INVESTORS / VISUAL COMFORT) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                 Brussels, 15.7.2021
                                                                 C(2021) 5410 final
                                                                                 PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                 Leonard Green & Partners, L.P.
                                                                 11111 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 2000
                                                                 Los Angeles, CA 90025
                                                                 U.S.A.
                                                                 Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
                                                                 200 West Street
                                                                 New York, NY 10282
                                                                 U.S.A.
                                                                 AEA Investors L.P.
                                                                 520 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor
                                                                 New York, NY 10022
                                                                 U.S.A.
Subject:        Case M.10342 – LEONARD GREEN & PARTNERS / GOLDMAN
                SACHS GROUP / AEA INVESTORS / VISUAL COMFORT
                Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation
                (EC) No 139/20041 and Article 57 of the Agreement on the European
                Economic Area2
Dear Sir or Madam,
1.      On 23 June 2021, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which the
        undertakings Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. (‘LGP’, US), The Goldman Sachs
        Group, Inc. (‘GS’, US) and AEA Investors LP (‘AEA’, US), ultimately jointly
        controlled by John Garcia and Brian Hoesterey, intend to acquire within the meaning
        of Articles 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the undertaking
        Visual Comfort & Co (‘Visual Comfort’, US), controlled by AEA, by way of purchase
        of shares.3
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 262, 5.7.2021, p. 14.
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--- 2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
        for LGP: investing in companies providing services, including consumer,
           business, and healthcare services, as well as retail, distribution, and industrials,
        for GS: global investment banking, securities and investment management,
        for AEA: identifying opportunities for private funds, structuring investment
           transactions through investment vehicles and disposing of such investments to
           create returns for investors in its private funds,
        for Visual Comfort: providing decorative and functional lighting products. The
           company sells various kinds of decorative lights (under the brands Visual
           Comfort, Tech Lighting, Generation Lighting), decorative fans (under the
           Monte Carlo brand) and products that are a combination of decorative lights
           and fans.
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(a) 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.
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