16.2.2016   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 60/12

1.

On 10 February 2016, 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 Avril Pôle Animal (‘APA’, France), belonging to the Avril group (‘Avril’, France), and Tönnies International Holding Gmbh (Germany), belonging to the Tönnies group (‘Tönnies’, Germany) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a newly created company (‘NewCo’, France) constituting a joint-venture.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—   for Avril: activities throughout the oil and protein sectors including the slaughtering of pigs and the production, marketing and sale of pork products for human and animal consumption.

—   for Tönnies: purchasing and slaughtering of pigs and beef cattle, the processing, packaging and sale of meat products.

—   for NewCo: processing, packaging and sale of fresh French origin pork and beef products to the retail channel for human consumption.

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 e-mail to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number M.7841 — Avril Pôle Animal/Tönnies International Holding/JV, to the following address: