CELEX: 32015M7705
Language: en
Date: 2015-10-02 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 02/10/2015 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.7705 - BENSON ELLIOT / WALTON STREET / STARWOOD / HOTEL PORTFOLIO) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

|[pic]                             |EUROPEAN COMMISSION                                                                                      |

                                        Brussels, 2.10.2015
                                        C(2015) 6860 final

                                        [pic]

|                                                                       |To the notifying parties:                                              |

Dear Sirs,

Subject:    Case M.7705 - BENSON ELLIOT/ WALTON STREET/ STARWOOD/ HOTEL PORTFOLIO
         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 04/09/2015, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger  Regulation  by
    which the undertakings Benson Elliot Capital Management LLP (‘Benson Elliot’, United Kingdom) and  Walton  Street  Capital  L.L.C.  (‘Walton
    Street’, United States) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and Article 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a portfolio
    of eight operating hotels located across the European Union (‘the Portfolio’) by way of purchase  of  shares  in  a  newly  created  company
    constituting a joint venture. Over five of the aforementioned hotels, Benson Elliot and Walton Street  will  jointly  acquire  control  with
    Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (‘Starwood’, United States) by virtue of pre-existing hotel management agreements.[3]

 2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

  – for Benson Elliot: private equity real-estate fund manager investing in hotel, office, residential and retail real estate properties in  the
    UK,

  – for Walton Street: is a private equity investment firm, also active in the real estate industry,

  – for Starwood: hotel and leisure operator. Its brands include: St. REGIS, The Luxury Collection,  W,  Westin,  Le  Méridien,  Sheraton,  Four
    Points by Sheraton, Aloft, element, and Tribute Portfolio,

  – for the Portfolio: eight hotels located in the cities of Nuremberg, Warsaw, Rome, Venice, Milan, Paris and Brussels.

 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)
                                        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 301, 12.9.2015, p. 16.

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

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                                                                  PUBLIC VERSION

                                                           SIMPLIFIED MERGER PROCEDURE