4.3.2017   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 69/10

1.

On 24 February 2017, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which Advent International Corporation (‘Advent International’, United States) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of the whole of Safran Identity and Security SAS (France) and Morpho USA (United States), by way of purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—   for Advent International: private equity investment in various sectors, such as banking, payment services, and identity and security solutions. In particular, Advent International controls Oberthur Technologies SA, a digital security provider active in the payment, identity and telecommunication sectors.

—   for Safran Identity and Security SAS: identity and security solutions.

—   for Morpho USA: identity and security solutions.

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 email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference M.8258 — Advent International/Morpho, to the following address: