19.4.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 91/35

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.4114 — Lottomatica/GTECH)

(2006/C 91/06)

(Text with EEA relevance)

1.

On 7 April 2006, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertaking Lottomatica S.p.A. (‘Lottomatica’, Italy) controlled by De Agostini S.p.A. (‘De Agostini’, Italy) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation control of the whole of the undertaking GTECH Holdings Corporation (‘GTECH’, USA) by way of purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—

for Lottomatica: active in the lotteries and gambling sector as well as in automatic payment services in Italy;

—

for De Agostini: active in the media, publishing, financial and insurance sectors;

—

for GTECH: active in the gambling sector and in automatic payment services at a world-wide level.

3.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004. 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. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (No (32-2) 296 43 01 or 296 72 44) or by post, under reference number COMP/M.4114 — Lottomatica/GTECH, to the following address:

European Commission

Competition DG

Merger Registry

J-70

B-1049 Brussels

(1)  OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1.