CELEX: 32019M9313
Language: en
Date: 2019-05-13 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 13/05/2019 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.9313 - Equistone Partners Europe Limited / CH&CO Catering Group (Holdings) Limited) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                Brussels, 13.5.2019
                                                                C(2019) 3730 final
                                                                                      PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                To the notifying party
Subject:        Case M.9313 – Equistone/CH&CO
                Commission decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC)
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                No 139/2004 and Article 57 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area
Dear Sir or Madam,
     1. On 11 April 2019, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
          concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which Equistone
          Partners Europe Limited (‘Equistone’, United Kingdom) acquires within the meaning of
          Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation sole control of the whole of CH & CO Catering
          Group (Holdings) Limited (‘CH&CO’, United Kingdom).
          The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.3
     2. The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
        -     for Equistone: a private equity investment firm supporting middle market companies
              by investing as a strategic partner alongside management teams in the United
              Kingdom, France, Germany and Switzerland,
        -     for CH&CO: provides contract catering services and concession foodservices in the
              United Kingdom.
     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
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 141, 17.04.2019, p. 7.
4       OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.
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--- 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)
                                              Johannes LAITENBERGER
                                              Director-General
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