Prior notification of a concentration

(Case M.9971 — P27 NPP/Bankgirot)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2021/C 221/05)

On 3 June 2021, 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:

—	Danske Bank A/S (‘Danske Bank’, Denmark),

—	Nordea Bank Abp (‘Nordea’, Finland)

—	OP Corporate Bank plc (‘OP’, Finland),

—	Svenska Handelsbanken AB (‘Handelsbanken’, Sweden),

—	Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (‘SEB’, Sweden),

—	Swedbank AB (‘Swedbank’, Sweden)

—	P27 Nordic Payments Platform AB (‘P27 NPP’, Sweden), and,

—	Bankgirocentralen BGC AB (‘Bankgirot’, Sweden).

Danske Bank, Nordea, OP, Handelsbanken, SEB and Swedbank acquire, within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation, joint control of P27 NPP (directly) and Bankgirot (indirectly through P27 NPP).

The concentration is accomplished by (i) way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture, in the case of the creation of P27 NPP and (ii) by way of purchase of shares, in the case of the acquisition of Bankgirot by P27 NPP.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—	for Danske Bank, Nordea, OP, Handelsbanken, SEB and Swedbank: six banking groups active primarily in the Nordics, offering a wide-range of financial services including among others, payment services;

—

for P27 NPP: a pan-Nordic payment platform currently under development with the aim of establishing a real-time multi-currency and cross border payment infrastructure across the Nordic region (including Denmark, Finland, Sweden and potentially Norway). P27 NPP will also offer pan-Nordic value-added payment services;

—	for Bankgirot: the current provider of the underlying infrastructure for processing payments and payment information as well as other value-added payment services in Sweden.

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 not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. The following reference should always be specified:

M. 9971 — P27 NPP/Bankgirot

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’).