CELEX: 31994M0470
Language: en
Date: 1994-08-29 00:00:00
Title: COMMISSION DECISION of 29/08/1994 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No IV/M.470 - Gencor / Shell) according to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (Only the English text is authentic)

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31994M0470

COMMISSION DECISION of 29/08/1994 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No IV/M.470 - Gencor / Shell) according to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (Only the English text is authentic)  

Official Journal C 271 , 29/09/1994 P. 0003

 COMMISSION DECISION of 29/08/1994 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the  common market (Case No IV/M.470 - Gencor / Shell) according to Council Regulation (EEC) No  4064/89  (Only the English text is authentic).   The paper version of the decision is available through the sales offices of the Office of Official  Publications of the European Communities. PUBLIC VERSION MERGER PROCEDURE ARTICLE 6(1)(b) DECISION TO THE NOTIFYING PARTIES Subject:<ind> Case No. IV/M.470 - Gencor/Shell <ind> Your notification of 26.7.1994 pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation No.4064/89 1.<ind> The proposed operation concerns the purchase by Gencor Limited of the mining, metals  processing and metals trading activities of Royal Dutch/Shell (Shell). Gencor is jointly controlled by  the South African National Life Insurance Company (Sanlam) and the Rembrandt Group Limited  (Rembrandt) within the meaning of Article 3.3 of the Merger Regulation. 2.<ind> After examination of the notification the Commission has concluded that the operation falls  within the scope of Council Regulation No. 4064/89 and does not raise serious doubts as to its  compatibility with the common market. I<ind> THE PARTIES 3.<ind> Gencor is a metals and minerals resource group based in South Africa. Sanlam is a South  African life insurance company. Rembrandt is a South African conglomerate with interests in  trading, mining, industry and financial services. Shell is a company with interest in oil and gas  production, chemicals, mining, metals, and minerals. II<ind> THE OPERATION 4.<ind> The operation involves the purchase by [deleted business secrets] Gencor of most of the  mining and minerals interests of Shell. The companies included in the operation are part of the so- called Billiton group of companies within Shell. The Billiton group of companies consists of a  number of mining, refinery, and minerals trading companies in 15 countries. 5.<ind> Billiton does not exist as one distinct company or group of companies within Shell. Instead,  the individual companies are subsidiaries of various Shell companies around the world. The current  operation is therefore coordinated in a framework agreement stipulating the conditions on which  Gencor buys the individual Billiton assets from Shell. This framework agreement covers the  purchases of individual companies by Gencor. <ind> Gencor is using a number of newly created companies registered in the country where the  assets are located as well as newly created holding companies in the British Virgin Islands, the  Dutch Antilles and the Netherlands to hold the acquired assets (collectively known as Kudu). In  addition, Gencor will transfer its share interests in the Brazilian gold mine Sao Bento and in the  South African minerals sands mine Richards Bay Minerals to Kudu. All the Billiton assets will be  transferred to Kudu with the exception of the Pering zinc mine, South Africa, which will be  transferred directly to Gencor. 6.<ind> The major Billiton Acquisition Assets are listed in the following table. Country <tab> Asset being acquired <tab> % interest Australia <tab> Worsley bauxite mine and alumina refinery <tab> 30 Guinea <tab> Boké bauxite mine <tab> 3.06 (6% of 51%) Ireland <tab> Aughinish alumina refinery <tab> 35 Brazil <tab> MRN bauxite mine <tab> 14.8 Brazil <tab> Alumar alumina refinery <tab> 36 Brazil <tab> Alumar aluminium smelter <tab> 46.35 Brazil <tab> Valesul aluminium smelter <tab> 41.5 Surinam <tab> BMS bauxite mine <tab> 76 Surinam <tab> BMS alumina refinery <tab> 45 Colombia <tab> Cerro Matoso nickel mine <tab> 52.31 Ghana <tab> Bogosu gold mine <tab> 81.23 Indonesia <tab> Prima Lirang <tab> 90 Canada <tab> Selbaie copper and zinc mine <tab> 100 South Africa <tab> Pering zinc and lead mine <tab> 100 Various <tab> Marketing and trading activities <tab> 100 Netherlands <tab> Commercial and technical <tab> 100 <ind> In Brazil and Surinam, Gencor will acquire 100% of pre-existing companies who hold the  shares in the joint venture. In Australia, Guinea and Ireland the stake itself is being sold from Shell  to Gencor. 7.<ind> The operation involves the acquisition through Gencor of a number of existing Billiton  companies. By looking through newly created companies and other vehicle companies, Gencor will  acquire BMS NV (deleted business secrets) (Surinam assets), Billiton Bogosu Gold Ltd [deleted  business secrets] (Ghana), BMSA [deleted business secrets] (Brazil), BMCI [deleted business  secrets] (Canada), Billiton Indonesia BV [deleted business secrets], CMSA [deleted business secrets]  (Colombia), Billiton Ghana Exploration BV [deleted business secrets] and the 100% shareholdings  in the various existing metals trading and commercial and technical companies: BMT, Billiton  Metall GmbH, BMI, Braconnot SA, Billiton - Enthoven Metals Ltd, Billiton Metals (UK) Ltd and all  of the metals trading business of Shell Japan. 8.<ind> In addition, Gencor will acquire a 6% shareholding in Halco Mining, which operates the  bauxite mine at Boké in Guinea, a 30% stake in the Worsley bauxite mine and alumina refining  production joint venture in Australia and a 35% stake in the Aughinish alumina refining production  joint venture. These operations are included in the overall assessment of the operation. Gencor will  also acquire certain minor exploration rights in Chile. Community dimension 9.<ind> The operation has Community dimension. The worldwide turnover of all undertakings  concerned amounts, in their respective last financial year, to more than 5,000 million ECU. The  Community wide turnover of two of the undertakings exceeds 250 million ECU. The undertakings  concerned do not achieve more than two thirds of their aggregate Community wide turnover within  one and the same Member State. IV<ind> COMPETITIVE ASSESSMENT Relevant product markets 10.<ind> The relevant product markets affected by the operation are: bauxite, alumina, aluminium,  gold, silver, nickel, copper, lead, zinc (all of which are actively traded as commodities) and titanium  dioxide, and the minerals trading activities themselves. Relevant geographic market 11.<ind> Basically metals are traded on a global basis under long term contracts with prices tied to  the prices quoted on the London Metal Exchange. Therefore, the relevant geographic market is a  world market. Vertical integration 12.<ind> The trading companies within the Billiton Group of companies are responsible for sales of  the major part of Billiton's share of the output from the production joint ventures. Furthermore, over  half of the sales of the Billiton trading companies comes from minerals sourced from the mines and  refineries of the Billiton group of companies. The Billiton assets are therefore in reality highly  vertically integrated. Minerals trading 13.<ind> Gencor will acquire the Billiton trading companies Billiton Marketing and Trading BV  ("BMT"), the Netherlands, Braconnot SA, France, Billiton Metal GmbH, Germany, Billiton Metals  UK Ltd., the UK, Billiton Enthoven Metals Ltd. ("BEM"), and the metals trading division of Shell  Japan Limited. BEM is a ring-dealing member of the London Metal Exchange (LME). It is active in  all traded metals and provides brokerage services in precious metals and COMEX copper as well.  Together these companies form the BMT network of trading companies.  14.<ind> The BMT network is a significant trader in bauxite, alumina, aluminium, nickel, zinc, tin,  and copper. However, it does not have market shares of more than 7% in any of these metals. Gencor  does not have any trading operations, and a horizontal concentration therefore does not take place in  minerals trading. Bauxite, alumina, and aluminium 15.<ind> Primary aluminium is produced by refining bauxite ore to alumina (aluminium oxide ) and  then converting alumina to aluminium metal in a smelter through a process known as electrolysis.  This process requires enormous amounts of electricity and smelters are therefore normally placed in  areas with low electricity cost. Primary aluminium of 99.7% purity is traded on the LME. Production  of secondary aluminium involves the remelting of scrap aluminium normally to produce alloys. The  price of secondary aluminium is highly dependent on the price of primary aluminium.  16.<ind> The sector of aluminium production is highly vertically integrated. The major producers of  aluminium like Alcan Aluminium Ltd. (Canada), Alcoa (Aluminium Company of America),  Comalco, Pechiney (France), and Reynolds are all involved in both bauxite mining, alumina  refining, and aluminium smelting, as is Biliton. Some of these companies are even involved in  downstream activities such as production of packaging and other engineered products.  17.<ind> The high degree of vertical integration has the effect that non-integrated producers have to  buy their raw materials from companies being their competitors at a further downstream stage of  production. The high degree of vertical integration in the aluminium sector has meant that the "free"  market for bauxite, alumina, and aluminium is relatively small. In alumina for example the free  market is only about 20% of the total alumina production. 18.<ind> Billiton is a vertically integrated producer of aluminium. However, the company appears to  be primarily active in the "free" alumina market, estimated to amount to 12 million tonnes of which  Billiton supplies [] (business secrets - less than 3 million tonens) million tonnes. 19.<ind> Gencor is not active in the bauxite and alumina markets. Gencor has a controlling interest  in Alusaf Limited, South Africa's only producer of primary aluminium. Alusaf has currently a  smelter capacity of 173,000 tonnes, but is building an additional smelter with a capacity of 466,000  tonnes. In the future it is foreseen that Billiton will deliver a large part of the alumina need of  Alusaf.  20.<ind> The operation will increase the degree of vertical integration of Billiton. However, the  operation does not give rise to serious doubts as to its compatibility with the common market, since  the parties' combined market share amounts to less than 5% of the Western world aluminium  market. Gold 21.<ind> Gencor is a major producer of gold and mined 4.3% of Western world production in 1992.  [deleted business secrets] Rembrandt, has a 17% interest in Gold Fields of South Africa (GFSA).  Mines owned by GFSA produced about 7% of world gold production in 1992.  22.<ind> The Billiton assets include interest in gold mines in Ghana and Indonesia as well as a zinc  and copper mine in Canada from which a small amount of gold is produced as a by-product. The  total production from these mines represents about [business secrets - less than 1 %] of total world  production. The operation does not give rise to serious doubts due to the limited addition of market  shares. Nickel 23.<ind> Refined nickel can be divided in two classes: class I and class II nickel. Only class I nickel  (pure nickel) is traded on the LME. Gencor has a 46% interest in Impala Platinum, which produces  class I nickel. The majority of this nickel is sold into the Netherlands for resale. However, Gencor is  also a buyer of nickel through its one third participation in the Columbus stainless steel joint  venture. 24.<ind> The Billiton assets include one mine in Columbia producing class II nickel (ferro-nickel).  Most of this type of nickel is sold to the stainless steel industry. An expansion of the Columbus  stainless steel joint venture is planned, and part of the extra nickel required is expected to come from  Billiton. However, Billiton will not become the sole supplier to the joint venture. 25.<ind> The horizontal issues in this sector are minor, since the addition in market shares are  minor (less than [business secrets - less than 10 %] of Western world production). Furthermore, no  vertical issues will arise, since there will be no foreclosure of the supply for nickel to the Columbus  joint venture.  Silver, copper, zinc and lead 26.<ind> The combined market shares of the parties in these areas are below [business secrets - less  than 10 %] and do not give rise to any concerns. V<ind> CONCLUSION 27.<ind> Based on the above findings, it appears that the proposed concentration does not raise  serious doubts as to its compatibility with the common market. For the reasons outlined above, the Commission has decided not to oppose the concentration and to  declare it compatible with the common market. This decision is adopted in application of Article  6(1)b of Council Regulation 4064/89. <tab> For the Commission