CELEX: 32020M9999
Language: en
Date: 2020-11-12 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 12/11/2020 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.9999 - BLACKROCK / KONINKLIJKE VOPAK / US GULF COAST TERMINALS) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                Brussels, 12.11.2020
                                                                C(2020) 7974 final
                                                                                 PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                To the notifying parties
Subject:        Case M.9999 – BLACKROCK / KONINKLIJKE VOPAK / US GULF
                COAST TERMINALS
                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 16 October 2020, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which Koninklijke
        Vopak N.V. (‘Vopak’, the Netherlands) and BlackRock Alternatives Management,
        LLC (‘BAM’, United States) in its capacity as investment manager for Global Energy
        & Power Infrastructure Fund III, L.P. (‘GEPIF III’, Cayman Islands) acquire within
        the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation indirect joint control of US
        Gulf Coast Terminals (‘the Target’, United States), belonging to the Dow Chemical
        Company (United States). The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of
        assets.3
2.      The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
             for BAM: investment management company which offers portfolio construction,
              asset management and investment advisory services. BAM controls and manages
              investment decisions of GEPIF III, a fund which operates globally and focusses
              on investments in the energy and power infrastructure value chain. BAM is an
              indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., active in the provision of
              global investment management, risk management and advisory services to
              institutional and retail clients around the world,
             for Vopak: active in the storage and handling of various oil, chemicals, edible oils
              and natural gas-related products. It provides its services on a worldwide basis and
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 354, 23.10.2020, 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---         operates terminals in Asia, the Middle East, North and South America, Europe
        and Africa,
       for the Target: three active US Gulf Coast marine and terminal operations and
        related assets, that is, the Freeport Terminal (Texas), the St. Charles Terminal
        (Louisiana) and the Plaquemine Terminal (Louisiana). These terminals provide
        tank storage services for chemicals and refined products for the US Gulf Coast.
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(a) 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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