4.10.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 350/23

1.

On 26 September 2014, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertakings the Electricity Supply Board (‘ESB’, Ireland), a majority State-owned company, and Vodafone Ireland Limited (‘Vodafone Ireland’, Ireland), a wholly-owned subsidiary belonging to Vodafone Group Plc, acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a newly created joint venture company (‘JVCo’, Ireland) by way of purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—   for ESB: an electricity utility, principally active in the transmission, distribution, generation and supply of electricity,

—   for Vodafone Ireland: a company primarily involved in the provision of mobile and non-mobile communications services,

—   for JVCo: a jointly controlled company to build, deliver and operate a high capacity fibre-to-the-building (‘FTTB’) network in Ireland.

3.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.

4.

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.

Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (+32 22964301), by e-mail to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number M.7307 — Electricity Supply Board/Vodafone Ireland/JV, to the following address: