Prior notification of a concentration

(Case M.9619 – CDC/EDF/ENGIE/La Poste)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2020/C 180/10)

On 19 May 2020, 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:

—	the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (‘CDC’, France),

—	EDF Pulse Croissance Holding (France), belonging to the Électricité de France group (‘EDF’),

—	ENGIE (France),

—	La Poste SA (France) belonging to the La Poste group, controlled by CDC.

CDC (comprising La Poste), EDF and Engie acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and Article 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Archipels, a newly created company.

The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—	CDC is a public group which carries out tasks of general interest in support of public policies conducted by the State and local authorities.

—	EDF is mainly active in France and abroad in the electricity markets. In the digital trust sector, EDF’s sole activity consists in providing, free of charge, an EDF tool operating a blockchain which makes it possible to verify that a press release issued by EDF is authentic.

—	ENGIE is an international industrial and services group active in gas and electricity business and energy services. This group is not active in the digital trust sector,

—

La Poste is the historic operator of the postal service in France, organised into five main branches of activity, including the La Banque Postale branch, which carries out banking and insurance activities, and the Digital branch, which develops digital solutions and services, in particular through Docaposte, which offers customer identification, electronic signature and certification.

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.

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

Observations must reach the Commission no later than 10 days following the date on which this notification is published. The following reference should always be specified:

M.9619 – CDC/EDF/ENGIE/La Poste

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

Email: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu

Fax +32 22964301

Postal address:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Competition

Merger Registry

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

(1) OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘Merger Regulation’).