CELEX: 32016M7887
Language: en
Date: 2016-01-21 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 21/01/2016 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.7887 - GOLDMAN SACHS / ASTORG ASSET MANAGEMENT / HRA PHARMA) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

|[pic]                             |EUROPEAN COMMISSION                                                                                      |

                                        Brussels, 21.1.2016
                                        C(2016) 388 final

                                        [pic]

|To the notifying parties:                                              |                                                                       |
|                                                                       |                                                                       |

Dear Sirs,

Subject:    Case M.7887 - GOLDMAN SACHS / ASTORG ASSET MANAGEMENT / HRA PHARMA
         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 9 December 2015, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation
    by which the undertakings Astorg Asset Management S.à r.l. acting on behalf of Astorg VI (“Astorg”, Luxembourg) and The Goldman Sachs Group,
    Inc. (“Goldman Sachs”, USA)  acquire within the meaning  of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control  over  Laboratoire  HRA  Pharma
    S.A.S and its subsidiaries (“HRA Pharma”, France), by way of  purchase of shares.[3]

 2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

      – Astorg is a private equity investment firm;

      – Goldman Sachs is a global investment banking, securities and investment management firm;

      – HRA Pharma is a French pharmaceutical company that develops and sells       pharmaceutical products  and  devices  in  women  health  and
        endocrinology sectors.

 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(b) 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 421, 17.12.2015, p. 26.

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

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                                                                  PUBLIC VERSION

                                                           SIMPLIFIED MERGER PROCEDURE