30.10.2007   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 257/51

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.4823 — Yara/Praxair/JV)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2007/C 257/14)

1.

On 22 October 2007, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertakings Yara International ASA (‘Yara’, Norway) and Praxair, Inc. (‘Praxair’, USA) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation joint control of a jointly owned undertaking (‘JV’) to be established by way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—

for Yara: production and marketing of fertilizers and nitrogen-based chemicals,

—

for Praxair: industrial gases, primarily oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, helium, electronic gases and specialty gases,

—

for JV: production and sale of industrial, specialty and medical gases in Scandinavia.

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 ((32-2) 296 43 01 or 296 72 44) or by post, under reference number COMP/M.4823 — Yara/Praxair/JV, to the following address:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Competition

Merger Registry

J-70

B-1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

(1)  OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1.