1.   

On 17 November 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:

—	Saudi Aramco Development Co Ltd (‘SADCO’, Saudi Arabia), controlled by Saudi Arabian Oil Company (‘Saudi Aramco’, Saudi Arabia),

—	Honeywell Automation and Control Products Ltd (‘HACP’, US), controlled by Honeywell International Inc. (‘Honeywell’, US),

—	the Joint Venture (‘JV’, Saudi Arabia).

SADCO and HACP will acquire within the meaning of Articles 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of a newly created joint venture.

The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares in the JV.

2.   

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are the following:

—	for SADCO: subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, wich is a joint stock company primarily engaged in prospecting, exploring, drilling and extracting hydrocarbon substances and processing, manufacturing, refining, and marketing these substances,

—	for HACP: subsidiary of Honeywell, which is a multinational conglomerate operating in four areas of business: aerospace; building technologies; performance materials and technologies; and safety and productivity solutions.

3.   

The business activities of the newly set-up JV will be the following: development, marketing, commercialisation and operation of an integrated manufacturing operations management system (iMOMS) branded as ‘Plant.Digital’, primarily active in the Gulf Cooperation Council region and Iraq.

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.10913 – SADCO / HACP / JV

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