CELEX: 32020M9813
Language: en
Date: 2020-04-29 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 29/04/2020 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.9813 - BLACKSTONE / IQSA HOLDINGS) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                Brussels, 29.04.2020
                                                                C(2020) 2904 final
                                                                                 PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                To the notifying party
Subject:        Case M.9813 – BLACKSTONE / IQSA HOLDINGS
                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 1 April 2020, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which The
        Blackstone Group Inc. (‘Blackstone’, USA) acquires within the meaning of Article
        3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation indirect sole control of the whole of IQSA Holdings
        S.à r.l. (‘IQSA Holdings’, United Kingdom) by way of purchase of shares.3
2.      The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
             for Blackstone: global asset manager with a portfolio of assets including real
              estate assets located across the United States, Asia, South America and Europe,
              including the United Kingdom,
             for IQSA Holdings: owns a portfolio of corporate purpose-built student
              accommodation (‘Corporate PBSA’) throughout the United Kingdom, which it
              operates as iQ Student Accommodation. It also owns a private residential
              development in Sheffield, the Pendulum Hotel located in Manchester and ten
              development sites it intends to operate as Corporate PBSA schemes.
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
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 119, 14.4.2020, p. 11.
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---    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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