CELEX: 32021M10348
Language: en
Date: 2021-07-20 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 20/07/2021 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.10348 - GLOBAL PAYMENTS / ERSTE GROUP / PAYONE BUSINESSES) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                Brussels, 20.7.2021
                                                                C(2021) 5567 final
                                                                                 PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                Global Payments Inc.
                                                                3550 Lenox Road
                                                                Atlanta, Georgia 30326
                                                                United States of America
                                                                Erste Group Bank AG
                                                                Am Belvedere 1
                                                                1100 Vienna
                                                                Austria
Subject:        Case M.10348 – GLOBAL PAYMENTS / ERSTE GROUP / PAYONE
                BUSINESSES
                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 28 June 2021, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which Global
        Payments Inc. (‘Global Payments’, USA) and Erste Group Bank AG (‘Erste Group’,
        Austria) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint
        control of the Austrian point-of-sale (‘POS’) merchant acquiring and POS terminal
        provision and management businesses (the ‘PAYONE Austrian Divestment
        Business’) of Ingenico Group S.A. (‘Ingenico’, France), belonging to Worldline S.A.
        (‘Worldline’, France) by way of purchase of assets.3
2.      The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
             for Global Payments: a financial services company that provides various
              payments solutions to merchants, issuers, businesses and consumers worldwide,
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 269, 7.7.2021, p. 5.
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---       for Erste Group: an Austrian financial services group which offers banking and
       financial services in Central and Eastern Europe,
      for the PAYONE Austrian Divestment Business: providing POS merchant
       acquiring services and POS terminal provision and management services in
       Austria.
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.
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