CELEX: 32020M9849
Language: en
Date: 2020-06-22 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 22/06/2020 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.9849 - BANCO SANTANDER / AEGON / POPULAR VIDA) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                Brussels, 22.06.2020
                                                                C(2020) 4264 final
                                                                                 PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                To the notifying parties
Subject:        Case M.9849 – BANCO SANTANDER / AEGON / POPULAR VIDA
                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 28 May 2020, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which Aegon N.V.
        ("Aegon", Netherlands) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the
        Merger Regulation joint control over the whole of Popular Vida 2020, Compañía de
        Seguros y Reaseguros, S.A.U. ("Popular Vida", Spain), controlled by Banco
        Santander, S.A. ("Banco Santander", Spain), by way of purchase of shares.3
2.      The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
        −     for Banco Santander: a Spanish bank and the parent company of an international
              group of banking and financial companies operating principally in European
              countries, Latin America and the United States/Puerto Rico,
        −     for Aegon: the parent company of a group of insurance companies listed in
              Amsterdam and New York, active worldwide, mainly in the United States, the
              Netherlands and the United Kingdom,
        −     for Popular Vida: a company active in the life-insurance market in Spain. Its main
              distribution channel is the commercial network of Banco Santander.
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 190, 08.6.2020, p. 6.
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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