CELEX: 32022M10595
Language: en
Date: 2022-02-23 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 23/02/2022 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.10595 - CERBERUS / HBCE (FRENCH RETAIL BANKING)) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                 Brussels, 23.2.2022
                                                                 C(2022) 1245 final
                                                                                 PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                 Cerberus Capital Management L.P.
                                                                 875 Third Avenue
                                                                 NY 10022 New York
                                                                 United States of America
Subject:        Case M.10595 – CERBERUS / HBCE (FRENCH RETAIL BANKING)
                Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation
                (EC) No 139/20041 and Article 57 of the Agreement on the European
                Economic Area2
Dear Sir or Madam,
1.      On 31 January 2022, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which Cerberus
        Capital Management L.P. (‘Cerberus’, US) acquires within the meaning of Article
        3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control over the whole of HSBC Continental
        Europe’s French retail banking business (‘HBCE’s French Retail Banking Business’,
        France), part of HSBC Group controlled by HSBC Holdings plc, by way of purchase
        of assets.3
2.      The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
             Cerberus is a long-term investment company in all sort of securities and assets,
              including but not limited to, complementary credit, private equity, real estate
              platforms and middle market lending,
             HBCE’s French Retail Banking Business offers to its retail customers: day-to-day
              banking and financial services; solutions for their short and long terms financing
              needs; insurance solutions and financial, insurance and investment advice and
              asset management services.
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 68, 9.2.2022, p. 10.
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--- 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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