1.   

On 18 October 2022, 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:

—	Apollo Global Real Estate Management, L.P. (‘Apollo’, USA),

—	Hines International Real Estate Holdings L.P. (‘Hines’, USA),

—	VI-BA S.r.l. (‘VI-BA’, Italy),

—	Aedes SIIQ S.p.A. (‘Aedes’, Italy).

Apollo, Hines and VI-BA (‘the Acquirers’) will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Aedes.

The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.

2.   

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are the following:

—	Apollo is a global alternative asset manager,

—	Hines is a global real estate investment, development and management firm,

—	VI-BA is active in investment, construction, development, leasing and sale of real estate.

3.   

Aedes is a real estate investment company, which owns a portfolio of 65 real estate properties mainly located in the north of Italy used predominantly for retail and office space.

4.   

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.

Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.

5.   

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.10892 – APOLLO / HINES / VI-BA / AEDES

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