CELEX: 32020M9688
Language: en
Date: 2020-01-24 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 24/01/2020 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.9688 - CINVEN / ASTORG / LGC SCIENCE GROUP) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                Brussels, 24.1.2020
                                                                C(2020) 493 final
                                                                                 PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                To the notifying parties
Subject:        Case M.9688 – CINVEN / ASTORG / LGC SCIENCE GROUP
                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 19 December 2019, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which the
        undertakings Cinven Capital Management (VII) General Partner Limited (‘Cinven’,
        UK), and Astorg Asset Management S.à r.l. (‘Astorg’, Luxembourg), acquire within
        the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control over the whole
        of the undertaking LGC Science Group Holdings Limited (‘LGC’, UK) by way of
        purchase of shares.3
2.      The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
             Cinven is a European private equity business engaged in the provision of
              investment management and investment advisory services to a number of
              investment funds,
             Astorg is an independent European private equity firm with over EUR 8 billion of
              assets under management, and
             LGC is the parent undertaking of a group of companies engaged in the provision
              of measurement tools, proficiency testing schemes, supply chain assurance
              standards, genomics reagents and instrumentation and research and measurement
              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 5, 09.01.2020, p. 3.
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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