CELEX: 32019M9191
Language: en
Date: 2019-01-08 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 08/01/2019 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market (Case No COMP/M.9191 - SoftwareONE Holding AG / Raiffeisen Informatik GmbH / COMPAREX AG) according to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (Only the English text is authentic)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                                                  Brussels, 08.01.2019
                                                                  C(2019) 104 final
                                                                           PUBLIC VERSION
                                                                  To the notifying party:
Subject:        Case M.9191 – SOFTWAREONE / COMPAREX
                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 4 December 2018, the European Commission received notification of a proposed
        concentration pursuant to Article 4 of the Merger Regulation by which the undertaking
        SoftwareONE (Switzerland) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger
        Regulation sole control of the whole of the undertaking Comparex AG (Germany) by way
        of a purchase of shares.3
2.      The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:
             for SoftwareONE4: distribution of information technology (“IT”) products and the
              provision of IT services. It helps customers optimise their software sourcing (process
              and commercial terms) and the technical setup of their software architecture. It
              manages all aspects of its customers’ software portfolios.
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 446, 11.12.2018, p. 14.
4       Investment funds advised or managed by affiliates of KKR & Co. Inc. (together with its affiliates, “KKR”)
        acquired indirect negative sole control over SoftwareONE in 2015. KKR is a global investment firm, which
        offers a broad range of alternative asset funds and other investment products to investors and provides capital
        markets solutions for the firm, its portfolio companies and other clients. KKR’s affiliated private equity funds
        invest in companies in a variety of sectors. Each KKR-affiliated portfolio company has its own board of
        directors, which generally includes one or more KKR representatives, and is operated and financed
        independently from other KKR-affiliated portfolio companies.
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---        for Comparex: provision of IT services and the distribution of IT products. It serves
        corporate customers spanning from small businesses to large international
        corporations as well as public institutions. Comparex’s portfolio of services
        encompasses license management, software procurement and cloud services, and
        software asset management.
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 139/2004.5
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
5  OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.
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