CELEX: 32020M9851
Language: en
Date: 2020-06-17 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 17/06/2020 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.9851 - NATURGY / SONATRACH / BLACKROCK / MEDGAZ) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                 Brussels, 17.06.2020
                                                                 C(2020) 4136 final
                                                                                 PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                 To the notifying parties
Subject:         Case M.9851 – NATURGY / SONATRACH / BLACKROCK / MEDGAZ
                 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 25 May 2020, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which the
        undertakings Naturgy Energy Group S.A. ("Naturgy", Spain), Sonatrach S.p.A
        ("Sonatrach", Algeria), and Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund III L.P.
        ("GEPIF III", Cayman Islands), managed by BlackRock Alternatives Management
        (“BAM”, USA) belonging to the BlackRock Group ("BlackRock", USA), acquire
        within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control over the
        whole of the undertaking Medgaz S.A. ("Medgaz", Spain) by way of purchase of
        shares.3
2.      The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
             Naturgy is active in electricity markets as well as mid and downstream gas
              markets, as well as in the gas storage, distribution and retail businesses,
             Sonatrach is the national state-owned oil and gas company of Algeria and is
              active all along the hydrocarbons value chain,
             GEPIF III is a fund focussing on investments in the energy and power
              infrastructure value chain. It is managed by BAM,
             Medgaz owns and operates the Algeria-Europe gas pipeline that transports natural
              gas from Algeria to Spain.
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 183, 3.6.2020, p. 7.
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(b) 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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