11.7.2017   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 222/6

1.

On 30 June 2017, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (‘Bayer’, Germany) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of the whole of Monsanto Corporation (‘Monsanto’, USA) by way of a purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—   for Bayer: publicly-traded management holding company of the Bayer Group. The Bayer Group is a diversified international organisation active in four core business areas: pharmaceuticals, consumer health, agriculture and animal health,

—   for Monsanto: publicly-traded US multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation.

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.8084 — Bayer/Monsanto, to the following address: