3.10.2015   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 327/8

1.

On 25 September 2015, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertaking OBI Group Holding SE & Co. KGaA (‘OBI’, Germany) and its affiliated undertakings, belonging to the Tengelmann group (Germany), acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of parts of the undertaking bauMax AG (Austria) by way of purchase of assets and other means.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—   for OBI: operation of do-it-yourself retail stores and operation of a franchise system for do-it-yourself retail stores in several countries in Europe and in Russia,

—   for the acquired parts of bauMax AG: operation of do-it-yourself retail stores in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. The European Commission referred the assessment of the effects of the transaction on the relevant markets in Austria to be examined by the Austrian Competition Authority on 4 August 2015 in application of Article 4(4) of the Merger Regulation.

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. Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under the Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in this Notice.

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 email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number Case M.7677 — OBI/bauMax Certain Assets, to the following address: