1.   

On 18 September 2019, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1).

This notification concerns the following undertakings:

—	Allied Irish Banks (‘AIB’, Ireland),

—	First Data Corporation (‘FDC’, USA), and

—	Semeral (Ireland).

AIB and FDC acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the whole of Semeral.

The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.

2.   

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—	AIB is is a financial services group operating predominantly in Ireland,

—	FDC provides e-commerce and payment services to businesses worldwide, and

—	Semeral is the holding company for Payzone Ireland, which operates a multi-channel consumer payments acceptance network in Ireland.

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. The following reference should always be specified:

M.9387 — Allied Irish Banks/First Data Corporation/Semeral

Observations can be sent to the Commission by email, by fax, or by post. Please use the contact details below:

E-mail: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu

Fax: +32 22964301

Postal address:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Competition

Merger Registry

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË