CELEX: 32020M9703
Language: en
Date: 2020-03-04 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 04/03/2020 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.9703 - SCP / REAL) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                Brussels, 4.3.2020
                                                                C(2020) 1508 final
                                                                                 PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                To the notifying party
Subject:        Case M.9703 – SCP / REAL
                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 4 February 2020, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which the
        undertaking SCP Group S.à.r.l. (‘SCP Group’, Luxembourg), controlled by: (i) joint
        stock financial corporation Sistema (Russia), ultimately controlled by Mr. Vladimir
        Evtushenkov and (ii) Mr. Felix Evtushenkov (Russia), acquires within the meaning of
        Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control over the whole of the ‘real’
        business (‘real Group’, Germany), currently owned by METRO AG (Germany), by
        way of purchase of shares and assets.3
2.      The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
              for SCP Group: real estate-based investments and advisory services;
              for the real Group: food and non-food retail supply by means of 276
                 hypermarkets in Germany and an online marketplace, as well as meat‐
                 processing (‘Meister feines Fleisch - feine Wurst GmbH’) and digital payment
                 services.
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
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 48, 12.2.2020, p. 23.
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---    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.
5. For the avoidance of doubt, this decision only pertains to the notified operation
   whereby SCP Group acquires real Group, as a standalone concentration, without
   prejudice to the assessment of any subsequent operations involving the real Group or
   parts thereof, under the Merger Regulation or the applicable law of any EEA Member
   States.
                                                  For the Commission
                                                  (Signed)
                                                  Olivier GUERSENT
                                                  Director-General
4  OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.
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