CELEX: 32014M7293
Language: en
Date: 2014-07-18 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 18/07/2014 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.7293 - ALLERGOPHARMA / STALLERGENES / LABORATORIOS LETI / JV) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

|[pic]                             |EUROPEAN COMMISSION                                                                                      |
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                                        Brussels, 18.07.2014
                                        C(2014) 5298 final

|To the notifying parties:                                          |                                                                   |
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Dear Madam(s) and/or Sir(s),

Subject:    Case M.7293 – ALLERGOPHARMA/ STALLERGENES/ LABORATORIOS LETI / JV
           Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004[1]

 1. On 26.06.2014, the European Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC)  No
    139/2004 by which the undertakings Allergopharma GmbH & Co. KG ("Allergopharma", Germany), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck  KGaA  ("Merck"
    Germany), Stallergenes S.A. ("Stallergenes", France), indirectly controlled by Ares Life Science L.P. ("ARES", Luxembourg), and  Laboratorios
    LETI, S.L. Unipersonal ("LETI", Spain), a wholly-owned subsidiary of LETI Pharma, S.L. ("LETI Pharma", Spain) acquire within the  meaning  of
    Article 3(1)(b) of the  Merger Regulation, joint control over NewCo GmbH ("NewCo", Germany), a newly created company, by way of  purchase  of
    shares.[2]

    The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

      -     Allergopharma: active in the fields of allergen immunotherapy, allergy diagnostics and allergy prevention and has  operations  in  25
           countries, with a main focus in Germany;

      -     Stallergenes: a global healthcare company specialised in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies which is present  in  20  countries
           and distributes its products in 75 countries;

      -     LETI: a biopharmaceutical company active in the fields of the treatment and diagnosis  of  allergies,  pharmaceutical  skincare,  in-
           vitro diagnostics and vaccines. It has production sites in Madrid (Spain) and subsidiaries in Portugal and Germany.

      -     NewCO: will develop mobile environmental exposure chambers for carrying  out  studies  on  new  preparations  for  the  treatment  of
           allergies, will obtain all the validations and permits that are necessary for their operation and will then market the chambers.

 2. 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(a) of the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of  certain  concentrations  under  Council
    Regulation (EC) No 139/2004.[3]

 3. 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.

                                        For the Commission

                                        (signed)
                                        Alexander ITALIANER
                                        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]   Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union No C 209, 04.07.2014, p.2.
[3]   OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.

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                                                                  PUBLIC VERSION

                                                           SIMPLIFIED MERGER PROCEDURE