12.4.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 111/18

1.

On 4 April 2014, the European Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertakings BayWa AG (‘BayWa’, Germany) and Agrifirm Group B.V. (‘Agrifirm’, the Netherlands) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the whole of the undertaking Agrimec Group B.V. (‘Agrimec JV’, the Netherlands) by way of purchase of shares. Agrimec is presently a fully-owned subsidiary of Agrifirm.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—   for BayWa: trading and services in agricultural products, building materials and energy products,

—   for Agrifirm: cooperative enterprise of Dutch farmers and horticulturalists providing products and services in arable farming, horticulture, livestock, cattle, poultry and pork sector, organic farming and agricultural machinery, and

—   for Agrimec JV: importation and distribution of agricultural machinery, including related after-sales services, in the Netherlands.

3.

On preliminary examination, the European 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 Merger Regulation (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.

4.

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

Observations must reach the European Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the European Commission by fax (+32 22964301), by e-mail to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number COMP/M.7180 — Agrifirm/BayWa/Agrimec JV, to the following address: