13.12.2008   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 319/25

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.5435 — Nexans/SEI/Opticable)

Candidate case for simplified procedure

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2008/C 319/11)

1.

On 4 December 2008, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd (‘SEI’, Japan), and Nexans group (‘Nexans’, France) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation joint control over Opticable (‘Opticable’, Belgium), currently solely controlled by Nexans, by way of purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—

for SEI: manufacture and sale of electric wires, harness and cables, as well as optical fibres and telecom fibre optic cables for terrestrial applications,

—

for Nexans: active in the cable industry offering an extensive range of cables and cabling systems in the infrastructure, industry, building and local area network markets. As a complementary activity it also provides fibre optic cables,

—

for Opticable: manufacture and sale of fibre optic cables for terrestrial applications in Europe.

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. 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.

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.5435 — Nexans/SEI/Opticable, to the following address:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Competition

Merger Registry

J-70

B-1049 Brussels

(1)  OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1.

(2)  OJ C 56, 5.3.2005, p. 32.